Mansfield: Turkish and Egyptian economies complement each other

Against the backdrop of a high-profile visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdo?an to post-revolution Egypt, Zuhal Mansfield, the Foreign Economic Relations Board's (DE?K) Turkish-Egyptian Business Council chairwoman, indicated that the economies of their two countries do not compete but rather complement each other, predicting a higher-than-expected increase in future trade.

"Both countries bridge two continents. Just as Turkey bridges Asia and Europe, Egypt serves as a bridge between African and Arab regions as well. We are two countries that have territories stretching into three continents and are neighbors to large regions," she told Today's Zaman. Mansfield underlined that in addition to shared geographical similarities, historical and cultural ties exist between the two countries.

Mansfield said that Erdo?an's visit to Egypt made a greater impact than the many friendly statements that have been made up until now. She noted that the prime minister's visit was important in putting mutual friendly statements into practice and will help pave the way to further action regarding bilateral ties.

According to Mansfield, Erdo?an's visit was to support Turkish businessmen doing business with Egypt. "The most important message of this visit is that the Turkish and Egyptian business worlds will become further integrated. In order to generate interest in developing a commercial relationship between the two countries, love and affection between their people are needed. We were welcomed with love and affection in Egypt. So, I can say that trade volume between Turkey and Egypt will not only increase but also gain even more momentum after this point,” she explained.

“This visit showed the Egyptian people our intention to develop mutual love and dialogue between our two peoples. It formed a perception for mutually compensating for our flaws, eliminating problems and healing wounds. In the end, it was decided that improving mutual trade is the only way to ensure these [goals are met]," Mansfield added.

Noting that trade between the two countries reached $3.4 billion last year, Mansfield said she believes both countries will exceed the set targets for the next decade. The current targets for trade volume are $5 billion in the next five years and $10 billion in the next 10 years.

Indicating that there were no Turkish investors in Egypt in 2006, Mansfield underlined that within five years, Turkish investments in Egypt have reached $1.5 billion

Chairwoman Mansfield listed four important expectations for the governments in order to give a boost to economic relations between Turkey and Egypt.