Rabat – Egypt is determined to boost trade cooperation with Morocco, Egyptian Minister of Trade Niven Gamea said on Wednesday.
The Egyptian official made the comments during a video conference on Wednesday with her Moroccan counterpart Moulay Hafid Elalamy.
During the meeting, Gamea said that Morocco and Egypt reached an agreement to form a work group from the two countries’ ministries of industry.
The work group will be tasked to identify challenges hindering “movement of trade exchange and investment cooperation” between the two countries, Egypt Today reported.
Gamea emphasized Egypt’s Ministry of Trade is ready to provide support for Moroccan investors, expressing keenness to attract more Moroccan investments in the Egyptian industrial sector.
The coming weeks will experience “intensified” meetings at the ministerial levels to discuss economic cooperation, Egypt Today reports.
The Egyptian minister also invited Elalamy to visit Cairo to further discuss boosting Egypt-Morocco trade cooperation.
For his part, Elalamy emphasized the importance of “opening of a new page of trade and investment” cooperation between the two countries and solving issues that hinder the “flow of trade” between Rabat and Cairo, according to Egypt Today.
The volume of trade between Egypt and Morocco amounted to $681 million in 2019.
Egypt’s exports to Morocco were worth $540 that year, whereas Morocco’s exports to the country were estimated at only $141 million.
Gamea announced the numbers last year during a meeting with Morocco’s ambassador to Egypt, Ahmed Al Tazy.
During that meeting, too, the Egyptian minister and the Moroccan diplomat discussed trade cooperation and vowed to expand the economic ties between their two countries.
Both parties emphasized the importance of achieving industrial integration and increasing exports to European, Arab, and African markets.
