Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Amro Nassar said on Friday that the investment of the European Union (EU) in Egypt is estimated at 15.1 billion U.S. dollars.
“The volume of trade between Egypt and the EU countries reached 26 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, and 13.4 billion dollars in the first half of 2019,” Nassar was quoted by official MENA news agency as saying.
He added that the trade exchange between the two sides mainly concentrated on furniture, medical industry, leather products, agriculture crops, electronics, food, and textile and construction materials.
“Britain ranked the first with 5.3 billion dollars which constitutes 35 percent of the value of the EU’s investment in Egypt, followed by Netherlands, Italy and France,” the report added.
The minister added that the EU is Egypt’s largest trade partner and investor, underlining the importance of enhancing the investment cooperation to boost exports to the regional and international markets.
He hailed Egypt’s role as a trade hub for many markets in Africa and the Middle East region.
Egypt has been suffering economic difficulties over the past few years due to political instability and relevant security issues.
In late 2016, Egypt started a strict, austerity-based three-year economic reform program including local currency liberalization as well as fuel and energy subsidy cuts and tax hikes to contain a budget deficit, promote local production and boost foreign investment.

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