Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry, Ahmed Samir, revealed on Sunday that Saudi investments in his country have surpassed $6 billion, distributed across various sectors. Among these sectors are industry, construction, tourism, agriculture, services, finance, telecommunications, and information technology, according to an official statement.
Egyptian investments in Saudi Arabia, in contrast, stand at around $1.4 billion in sectors such as industry, energy, water, health, retail, e-commerce, petrochemicals, petroleum and gas, tourism, communications and information technology, transportation, logistics services, mining, and engineering services.
The trade exchange rate between the two countries increased by 23.9%, reaching approximately $5.665 billion in 2022, compared to nearly $4.572 billion in 2021. The Egyptian statement also announced the signing of two memorandums of understanding between Ahmed Samir and Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Wealth, Bandar Al-Khuraif, for developing non-oil exports and the automotive industry.
Both Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been engaging in continual meetings to discuss various areas of shared industrial cooperation. This includes localizing the production requirements, achieving integration between the two countries akin to the integrative industrial partnership experience between Egypt, Jordan, UAE, and Bahrain, and enhancing joint cooperation for exporting to the African continent.
Ahmed Samir pointed out that these discussions also explored opportunities for cooperation in the petrochemical industry to meet local market needs and export to foreign markets.
The Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Wealth emphasized the directives of the Saudi leadership to strengthen mutual relations with Egypt as strategic relationships, aiming to be a role model for cooperation between brothers. The Kingdom is keen on benefiting from Egyptian experiences in many industrial sectors, chiefly the automotive and pharmaceutical industries.
In June 2022, Egypt and Saudi Arabia announced in a joint statement that the Kingdom intends to lead investments worth $30 billion in Egypt. Notably, the total trade exchange value between Egypt and Saudi Arabia increased to $10.4 billion in 2022, compared to $9.1 billion in 2021, a rise of 13.5%.
