Ahmad 
Egyptian Finance Minister Ahmed Kojak announced the Egyptian government’s efforts to boost bilateral trade with Turkey, targeting $15 billion in the coming years.
During the minister’s meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Mehmet Simsek, on the sidelines of the G20 events held in Brazil, Kojak stressed the desire to strengthen economic relations between the two countries to achieve mutual benefits, especially in light of global and regional economic challenges.
He pointed out that mutual cooperation could include areas such as climate change and sustainable development, through joint initiatives aimed at enhancing sustainability and protecting the environment.
The minister explained that Egypt and Turkey want to exploit the available economic opportunities to expand the scope of trade and investment between the two countries, indicating that there are ongoing efforts to improve the investment environment in Egypt, and strengthen the relationship between investors and government agencies, which contributes to integrating the informal economy into the formal economic framework and increasing tax compliance rates.
Kojak spoke about the importance of the private sector in achieving economic development, stressing the need to support this sector to become a major driver of sustainable growth in Egypt, explaining that Turkey is one of Egypt’s most important trade partners, and that the two countries have many projects that attract investment, especially in the fields of infrastructure, energy and technology.
Trade relations between Egypt and Turkey have witnessed fluctuations in recent years. In 2023, the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey amounted to about $5.875 billion, representing a decrease of 15.7% compared to 2022.
This decrease is partly due to the decline in Egyptian imports from Turkey, which amounted to about $2.941 billion, while Egyptian exports to Turkey increased by 28% to reach $2.934 billion, while Turkish investments in Egypt exceeded $2.5 billion by the end of April 2023, and were mainly focused in sectors such as textiles, ready-made garments, chemicals, glass products, and recycling.
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