Türkiye and Egypt Expected steps to raise trade exchange to $15 billion

The eyes of the business world in Türkiye and Egypt are on the second meeting of the mechanism of high-level trade consultations between the two countries, which is scheduled to be held in Cairo on Monday and Tuesday, amid expectations of taking new steps to achieve the vision of the two countries in raising the volume of trade exchange between them to $15 billion.

The first meeting of the consultation mechanism was held in Ankara on November 12, under the chairmanship of Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan.

The upcoming second meeting is expected to discuss ways to develop cooperation opportunities to strengthen trade and economic relations between Türkiye and Egypt, discuss the problems facing bilateral trade activities, and put forward proposals for solutions.

The volume of trade exchange between Türkiye and Egypt reached $8.8 billion in 2024, as Turkish exports to the Arab country recorded $4.2 billion, while its imports from it amounted to $4.6 billion.

During the first 10 months of this year, Türkiye generated about $3 billion in revenues from its exports to Egypt, its largest trading partner on the African continent.

Regarding the upcoming meeting in Cairo, Orhan Aydin, president of the Turkish “Anatolian Eagles” businessmen association, pointed out its importance, in terms of enhancing the current volume of trade exchange and expanding cooperation opportunities between the two sides.

Aydin said in statements to Anadolu News Agency that the meeting is likely to result in a roadmap that will form a compass for trade relations between Ankara and Cairo, in the next stage.

He stressed that his main expectations from the meeting are also to plan concrete steps that will raise the volume of trade exchange to $15 billion, improve the investment environment in support of this goal, and agree on solutions that will speed up business procedures and transactions and overcome obstacles that prevent this.

Regarding the strengthening of the mechanisms for bilateral trade procedures, Aydin said that this is done through the use of local currencies and reducing the risk of exchange rate fluctuations, which is of great importance to encourage more trade between the business worlds in Türkiye and Egypt.

“These steps will reflect positively on the exports and imports of the two countries, especially in the industrial sector”, he said.

As for Egypt, the head of the “Anatolian Eagles” stated that it ranks 16th in the list of countries that import the most from Türkiye, while it ranks 17th among the countries that export the most to Türkiye.

He pointed out that the presence of already strong sectors in the Egyptian market opens the door to new opportunities for the Turkish business world.

Regarding the Egyptian sectors that offer new opportunities for Turkish businessmen, he mentioned two hands, including the defense industry, renewable energy, transportation, logistics and tourism.

“Egypt’s high population and its government’s ongoing efforts on development provide a very favorable environment for Türkiye’s contracting and construction materials sectors,” he added.

In addition to the ongoing projects for Egypt’s major cities and infrastructure, Turkish companies can play an active role in the recovery and early reconstruction process in neighboring areas, especially the Gaza Strip… Türkiye’s readiness to contribute to this path has already been announced to the public”.

He expressed his belief that the upcoming meeting between Türkiye and Egypt will contribute to providing more facilities related to the participation of Turkish contracting companies and technical consultancy services in Egyptian projects.

He also said that the meeting is likely to result in special decisions and partnerships that contribute to increasing Turkish exports of building materials to the Arab country.

He concluded by saying that the value of Turkish investments in Egypt currently amounted to about $4 billion, considering this as tangible proof of the abundance of potential and opportunities in this country for the Turkish business world.

In February 2024, the establishment of the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council between Egypt and Türkiye, chaired by the leaders of the two countries, Abdel Fattah el Sisi and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was announced.

The Council is considered a key body that regulates all forms of cooperation between the two countries, according to Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Salih Mutlu Şen.

On November 12, the Egyptian Foreign Minister confirmed during his visit to the headquarters of the Federation of Turkish Chambers and Exchanges (TOBB) in the capital, Ankara, that economic relations with Türkiye are witnessing unprecedented momentum as part of strengthening joint cooperation between the two countries, according to a statement by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

The Egyptian Foreign Minister stressed the importance of the role that the business community in the two countries can play to achieve the goal set by the presidents of the two countries, to reach the volume of trade exchange to $15 billion over the next five years.