Industry and Trade Minister Ahmed Samir said that trade exchange between Egypt and Russia increased by 5.3% in 2023, to reach about $5.159 billion, against $4.896 billion in 2022.
This came during an expanded discussion session held with Russian Minister of Industry and Trade Anton Alikhanov on the sidelines of their participation in the 27th St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
The two sides reviewed the most important files of cooperation between the two countries and means to boost bilateral ties at various levels, particularly in the trade, industrial and investment ones.
The most prominent items of trade exchange between Egypt and Russia include agricultural crops, which account for about 74.2% of total Egyptian exports to the Russian market, in addition to wheat and sunflower seeds.
He asserted his ministry’s keenness on continuing fruitful cooperation between the two sides, within the framework of the Egyptian-Russian Joint Committee for Commercial, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation.
The two sides also reviewed the latest developments related to the ratification of a project establishing the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) in Egypt.
As for negotiations of the free trade agreement between Egypt and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), consensus was reached on many articles of the agreement, the minister said.
The negotiating teams from both sides agreed on completing negotiations on the unsettled topics through virtual meetings to be held in the coming period, he further noted.
The Egyptian side is ready to hold the 15th session of the Joint Committee in the second half of this year, the minister said, underlining the possibility of holding the committee meeting on the sidelines of one of the events held within the framework of BRICS.
For his part, the Russian Minister of Industry and Trade stressed the Russian government’s keenness to give a strong impetus to various joint cooperation files with Egypt, particularly the RIZ project in Egypt, the free trade agreement between Egypt and the Eurasian Union, and the Egyptian-Russian Joint Committee.
