Egypt Offers Turks Barter on Business

Egypt could become a gateway for Turkish firms intent on entering new markets in Africa, the head of a top Egyptian business group has said.

“Turkish firms are interested in penetrating 19 African countries through Egypt,” Hussein Sabbour, chairman of Egyptian Business Association (EBA), told the Hürriyet Daily News yesterday at the 12th Egyptian-Turkish Business Council meeting in Istanbul.

As a member of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), Egypt currently pays no tax or custom fees on goods traded with other member states, which include Kenya, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. “This is a great advantage for a Turkish firm to invest in developing countries in Africa.”

Sabbour said Egyptian construction and consulting firms had also developed an interest in partnering with Turkish construction companies which are already active in Russia and Turkmenistan. “If we are opening the door to Africa to Turkish firms, we would also partner with Turkish firms for construction projects in Russia and Turkmenistan.”

Another reason for the increased interest of Turkish firms in post-revolution Egypt, Sabbour said, is to export products, primarily textiles, to the U.S. market without customs fees. “Turkey has to pay a significant customs and tax fees for exporting products to the U.S. This could be avoided by partnering with Egyptian firms.”

He also said Turkish and Egyptian firms were currently having talks about their partnerships without naming companies.

“Bilateral trade between Turkey and Egypt had reached to $3.48 billion as of November. We aim to reach $10 billion in a few years’ time,” Ismail El-Nagdy, Egyptian deputy minister of industry and foreign trade, told the Daily News. He said Roll-On/Roll-Off (RORO) services between the Mediterranean Turkish port of Mersin and the Egyptian city of Alexandria would begin operating next year and would boost trade between the countries.