Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea continued on Friday her meetings with Russian officials, including advisor to the Russian president Anton Kobyakov, during the St. Petersburg International Forum (SPIF), the Ministry of Trade and Industry announced.
Gamea and Kobyakov discussed boosting economic cooperation and relations between Russia and Egypt, which is participating in the jubilee event of the forum as a guest country.
Gamea also held a meeting with her Russian counterpart Denis Manturov, where they discussed boosting trade exchange, as the Russian market represents one of the future markets for Egyptian exports.
They also discussed the developments regarding the Russian Industrial Zone in Egypt, which will contribute to localising a number of Russian industries in Egypt.
Gamea also met on Friday with CEO of Transmashholding Kirill Lipa, where they conferred on the supply of 1,300 locomotives to the Egyptian Railway Authority, of which 650 locomotives have already been delivered.
Egypt-Russia trade hit $4.7 billion in 2021, up 5.1 percent from $4.5 billion a year earlier; with Egypt’s exports to Russia amounting to $591.7 million and imports $4.178 billion, rising 14.7 percent and 3.9 percent respectively, according to Minister Gamea.
She also met with Founder and President of Mobitruck, where they discussed the experience of the company in producing mobile and food trucks as well as the possibility of having a production line in the Egyptian market.
During the Russia-Africa session on the sidelines of the forum on Thursday, the minister underlined the importance of enhancing efforts to promote Africa-Russia economic relations and establish more joint projects to beef up Russian industrial cooperation with Africa.
Gamea reiterated the need for utilising Egypt's location as a gateway to Africa as well as the trade agreements signed between Egypt and fellow African states to strengthen Russian-African ties.
She said the volume of trade exchange between Russia and Africa reached $16.9 billion in 2021 compared to $13.9 billion in 2020, an increase of 21.6 percent.
The minister also noted that the Russian industrial zone project in Egypt is a good step towards deepening Russia-Egyptian investments, calling for benefiting from the preferential trade agreements signed between Egypt and a number of economic blocs worldwide.
