Egypt, Romania discuss fostering economic cooperation, boosting trade exchange

Newspaper Title: english.ahram.org.eg

Newspaper Number:

Saturday - 4 February 2023

Egypt's Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his Romanian counterpart Nicolae Ciuca met in Cairo on Saturday and discussed fostering economic relations and the trade exchange between the two countries, which exceeded $1 billion last year.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ciuca, Madbouly asked that Romania increase its grain exports to Egypt, as it is a major producer of grain in Europe and the world.

Egypt relies heavily on wheat for making bread, a main staple of the Egyptian diet, with citizens consuming almost 100 billion loaves of bread annually.

The 104-million country has been suffering a wheat shortage since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, since 80 percent of its imported wheat was coming from Russia and Ukraine. The government has since been looking to buy wheat from other countries in order to diversify Egypt’s wheat import sources.

Madbouly said the Egyptian government appreciates Romania for taking in Egyptian students who were forced to leave Ukraine during the Russian invasion and helping them return home.

He also said that Egypt and Romania are preparing to hold a forum for businessmen from both countries.

For his part, Ciuca asserted that his visit to Egypt aims to boost bilateral relations between the two countries, and that Romania looks forward to promoting ties with Egypt on all fronts.

"We will exert our utmost efforts to avoid a food crisis, and we will seize every opportunity to secure all Egyptian needs and make up for any shortages," the Romanian premier said during the joint news briefing.

Ciuca also said his country will host a joint business forum later this year to discuss how to promote economic cooperation and bolster Egyptian-European ties to achieve regional integration between Europe and Africa, a matter of critical importance for Bucharest.

The Romanian prime minister said today's talks with Madbouly also covered how to exchange energy and capacity-building support to make the best use of green hydrogen as a clean source of energy.

In addition, it has also been agreed upon to share expertise in government digital transformation implementation strategies, Ciuca pointed out, noting that these talks provide a good chance to bolster bilateral ties under the current political leadership in both countries.

Finally, Ciuca pledged that he will spare no efforts to implement all the decisions agreed upon today with his Egyptian counterpart.