Kingdom’s delegation to explore more investments in Egypt

RIYADH: A high-ranking Saudi delegation will next month visit Cairo and explore the possibility of increasing Saudi investments in Egypt, Saudi ambassador to Cairo Ahmed Abdulaziz Qattan was quoted as saying.
The announcement of Saudi envoy came following his talks with Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil last Tuesday where the two officials discussed bilateral relations and ways to bolster them.
According to available data, the volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom and Egypt increased by 50 percent in the first quarter of the current year to hit $ 1.21 billion. Egypt imports from the Kingdom amounted to $ 682 million whereas the Saudi imports from Egypt stood at $ 528 million.
The volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to $ 3.3 billion in 2010, and the number of Egyptian projects in which Saudis invested was 2,355, while the volume of joint investments reached $ 1.5 billion.
The head of the foreign trade department in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Industry in Egypt, Hussein Omran, recently noted that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached record levels during the first three months of 2012, to about $ 1.21 billion versus $ 800 million in the same period in 2011, an increase of 50 percent.
The number of Saudi projects in Egypt is estimated at 779 projects of which 381 were industrial and mining, 117 agricultural, 156 services, and 94 tourist projects in addition to 31 projects invested in free-zone areas.
The above projects created some 88,000 jobs. The two countries also signed agreements to boost agricultural cooperation and implementation of joint researches on projects of mutual interests.
Saudi investments in Egypt were reportedly estimated at $ 27 billion.