Cairo, 13/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 13 November, European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship Antonio Tajani - who was in Egypt, accompanied by over a hundred entrepreneurs from 13 European countries representing 3 million jobs and €700 billion turnover - said that the EU-Egypt trade forum ought to be beneficial for both Egyptian and European businesses. “European industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises, cannot afford to look inwards”, Tajani said, adding that this is one of the reasons why “the development of economic and political ties with countries like Egypt is also important”. “If we want to develop industry in Europe, we need to work on internationalisation”, he said, adding that internationalisation is the opposite of globalisation. “We are going to strengthen businesses through their international presence”, he said.
This enlargement market “will enable the two sides to be stronger in order to face competition from the emerging economies”, Tajani said. He hoped that the Arab Spring region would re-emerge in a new phase of global influence, on the basis of new and strong connections between businesses, investors, traders, and politicians from both sides. And while Europe is ready to invest in Egypt, the door is also open for Egyptian investment in Europe, Tajani said.
“We want more European companies in Egypt”, the Egyptian minister for industry, Hatem Saleh, said, adding that the time has come to move forward and create a win-win situation. “Egypt wants to be the country of refuge for your investments”, the Egyptian minister for investment, Osama Saleh, said to the European entrepreneurs. He said that Egypt is not only a tourist country but also possesses manufacturing, agriculture, services, trade and the hydrocarbons, gas and oil.
Four letters of intent. Tajani and the ministers signed three letters of intent on close cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) - including the reduction of the administrative burden; on industrial cooperation with - amongst other things - an exchange of experience and good practice; and on strengthening cooperation and the exchange of information in the area of standardisation - which is important for trade. A fourth letter of intent on tourism policy was signed with the minister for tourism, Mohamed Hisham Zaazou.
Difficulties to overcome. Yet obstacles still exist. Tajani said that “the governments should work hard to create a good business environment”, emphasising public investment, special assistance for trade development, and actions to encourage and help entrepreneurs. He also stressed the importance of SMEs and the need to pay attention to administrative barriers. The forum also provided the occasion to discuss the difficulties that Europeans face when they want to invest in Egypt - late payment, transparency, privatisation, red tape and the justice system. “Legal clarity must be strong for businesses”, Tajani said. “The initial responses that we had this morning were positive”, Tajani said, as he now waits for the words to be followed up by action.
In receipt of 30.5% of Egypt's exports, the EU is Egypt's top trading partner. Services represent almost half of Egypt's total exports and Egypt especially sells fuel and mining products, chemical products and agricultural products on the European market. The EU, which mainly exports machinery and transport equipment, fuel and mining products and agricultural products, is the main source of Egypt's imports (32.6% of the total). Among the most open economies of the Middle East and North Africa, Egypt is also the top beneficiary of the EU's foreign direct investment in the Euromed area - which nonetheless decreased from €10.8 billion to €2.8 billion between 2008 and 2010. (CG/transl.fl)