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Doaa Moneim – Ahram Online
Christian Berger, the European Union (EU) delegation’s Ambassador to Egypt, spoke to Ahram Online AT the second ministerial conference of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), which kicked off in Cairo on Monday.
“Egypt is the largest investment market for the EU in Africa and the second biggest market in the Mediterranean. Thus, there is a very strong and growing interest from European companies to invest and expand in the Egyptian market, which is a positive sign on the bilateral relations between the two sides”, Berger said.
“Accordingly, Egypt is the EU’s 29th largest trading partner globally, representing 0.7% of the EU’s total trade in goods with the world in 2020, despite the severe impacts of the pandemic on trade and supply chains globally”, according to Berger.
Meanwhile, the EU is Egypt’s biggest trading partner, covering 24.5% of Egypt’s trade size in 2020, and 25.8% of its imports. 21.8% of Egypt’s exports go to the EU.
“The total goods trade value between the EU and Egypt amounted to €24.5 Billion in 2020. EU’s imports from Egypt amounted to €6.4 Billion, mainly in fuel, mining, chemicals, agriculture products and raw materials, in addition to textiles and clothing. The EU’s exports to Egypt recorded €18.1 Billion in 2020, covering machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, agriculture, raw materials as well as fuel and mining products”, Berger noted.
On trade in bilateral services between the two sides, he explained that it reached €10.9 Billion in 2019, however, it has decreased due to last year’s global shock caused by the pandemic and its impact on the tourism sector.
Regarding disruptions to supply chains amid the pandemic, Berger told Ahram Online, “a lesson we learned from the coronavirus is the necessity of bringing production closer to the EU in the region”.
He stressed, “Egypt has very well-developed infrastructure, transportation, and a young skilled labour force. That is a significant incentive for European companies to invest in the Egyptian market.
With respect to the recent update on the free trade area between the EU and Egypt under the ‘Association Agreement ‘signed in 2004, Berger confirmed, “the EU plans to upgrade this deal to an extensive comprehensive free trade arrangement”.
“There are constant discussions between trade officials in the EU and Egypt’s Ministry of Trade and Industry on how to continue improve the flow of goods between the two parties”, Berger illustrated.
“This week, the EU’s director for trade will discuss with the Egyptian ministers of trade, finance and agriculture ways to improve trade flow between Egypt and the EU’s countries for the sake of increasing trade volume and avoiding any sort of disruptions”, he added.
The ambassador said that “digitising the economy is one of the main areas in which the EU is interested”. He added, “Egyptian companies, the business community and the concerned ministers are very eager to work on this, as it is a guarantee to stay ahead of the global market and to compete.
Berger said, “the EU’s commissioner for the Southern Neighbourhood will visit Egypt later in October to participate in the Cairo ‘Water Week’ event and will have talks on ways to boost Egypt’s efforts in this area.”
