The Egyptian Business Association (EBA) is preparing for a Tunisian business mission in April, where the mission is expected to meet the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, as well as the Minister of Trade and Industry, Amr Nassar, the EBA’s Executive Director, Mohamed Youssef, told Daily News Egypt.
The Tunisian business mission includes representatives from about 50 firms, Youssef noted, adding that the EBA is hosting a conference as one of the side events for the Tunisian mission which will also meet representatives from Egypt’s banking sector to discuss possibilities of joint cooperation.
“We will also discuss how to make full use of bilateral agreements to boost economic cooperation in particular for the food processing sector, including olives and dates,” he mentioned.
Governmental entities need for more integration to guarantee the success of the private sector’s initiatives for future cooperation, he said, explaining, “The EBA was able to gather local businesspersons with foreign counterparts, yet the future joint cooperation jam with some governmental entities disagreed despite other entities’ approvals.”
Egyptian-Tunisian business relations are a role model for others to follow, Mohsen Adel, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) said in November 2018, noting that about 317 Tunisian firms are investing about $802m in Egypt, while the main sectors for Tunisian investments are real estate, tourism, services, industry, agriculture, and finance.
Additionally, the EBA is discussing with the Egyptian government joint initiatives to sustain efforts in order to boost Egypt’s tourism sector, Youssef said, affirming the importance of tourism sector for the country’s economic development.
“We have to integrate visions to promote the tourism sector which supports about 80 sub-industries. We have to raise Egyptian peoples’ awareness about the importance of tourism. We aim to support repeated tourism,” Youssef indicated.
