“Egypt low cost of labor and energy has become an opportunity for Turkish investments in the textile and clothing sectors especially after the signing of the FTA between Egypt and Turkey which is expected to be active in the next few months. .Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Rasheed Mohamed Rasheed attended .a meeting with officials of 24 Turkish companies, Rasheed said LE 12 billion investments will be carried out by Turkish businessmen in Egypt over the coming few weeks. They would provide about 84 thousand job opportunities, he added .The free trade agreement with Turkey will be put into effect completely after the People’s Assembly endorses it, the minister said, pointing out that Egypt, in the coming period will focus on luring more investments and creating new job opportunities .Rasheed said the volume of trade exchange between the two countries is expected to increase by 25 percent in 2006, underlining that the two countries could enhance industrial cooperation in the fields of spinning and weaving, construction materials, car components and foodstuff .Meanwhile, Rasheed held intensive talks Thursday with a number of Turkish officials and businessmen. The Turkish officials and businessmen voiced their interest in increasing Turkish investments in Egypt, especially in light of facilities offered by the Egyptian government to foreign investors, as well as a joint Egyptian-Turkish trade cooperation agreement .Later on the day, Rasheed also held a session of talks with Turkish Minister of State for External Trade Kursad Tuzmen .The talks took up means of boosting the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey that will range between 2-3 billion dollars after the free trade agreement between the two countries came into effect .In statements prior to the talks, Tuzmen expected the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey to jump to more than 2 billion, especially after putting into effect a free trade one agreement with Egypt .He noted that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries accounted for $1 billion at present. Tuzmen highlighted his country’s keenness on enhancing trade with neighboring countries as well as regional countries, especially Egypt .

Date:4/29/2006

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