BEBA holds a webinar discussing new opportunities for the Bilateral Trade Agreement between Egypt & UK
The British Egyptian Business Association held its 1st webinar in 2021 in a series of discussions they will be holding virtually, where they discussed the new opportunities for the bilateral Trade Agreement between Egypt & UK.
The successful webinar hosted a number of experts and industry leaders including Paul Mullard, Senior Trade Policy Advisor DIT, Iman Refaat, General Director of Trade in Goods at Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ahmed Ezz El Din, VP Fed International for Industry and Trade. The session was moderated by Dr. Sherif Fahmy, General Manager of N Gage Consulting.
Dr. Sherif Fahmy, General Manager of N Gage Consulting, started the session with praising the bilateral Trade Agreement between Egypt & UK. Fahmy stressed on the fact that UK is one of the main trading partners to Egypt referring to the figures achieved in 2019 as the total trade on goods and services between the UK and Egypt was worth £3.6 billion with a surplus in favor of UK’s exports of £2.3 bn in comparison with Egypt’s exports of £1.3 bn.
He also highlighted the major goods exports to Egypt included electric machinery, mechanical appliances, metal, pharmaceutical and optical products, while the major goods exports to UK included electric machinery, mineral fuel, edible fruits and nuts. He further pointed out the great potential food and agriculture industry has in the light of the new agreement.
For his part, Paul Mullard, Senior Trade Policy Advisor DIT, stated that the new trade deal between Egypt and UK provides a platform to deepen trade and investment relations between the two countries after Brexit by securing free trade which is considered a mini-agreement, building on the deal previously signed between Egypt and the European Union.
He also pointed out that the agreement will provide tariff-free trade on industrial products, as well as liberalization of trade in agriculture and agri-foods making trade easier and delivering significant savings to businesses in both the UK and Egypt. Moreover, UK will continue to use the EUR1 and EUR-MED format for movement certificates with trade partners that have mutual FTAs with the EU, including Egypt.
Iman Refaat, General Director of Trade in Goods Ministry of Trade and Industry, emphasized on the long standing strategic economic relations between both countries in trade, investment, education and healthcare. The UK is the biggest overseas investor in Egypt in 3 main sectors oil & gas, telecom and pharmaceutical sectors, where there is a potential to boost the investments by capitalizing on Egypt’s several trade agreements as the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement which recently came into force. She also said that in the absence of this new trade deal between both countries, Egypt and the UK would be trading on MFN basis with no preferential margins. Egyptian exports of fruits and vegetables have a potential to play a crucial role in closing the gap in the UK market since UK imports from fruits and vegetables account for almost £11.5 bn while the exports of which account for £1.3 bn, according to the UK statistics.
Ahmed Ezz El Din, VP Fed International for Industry and Trade, said this agreement ensures the continuity of preferential access to both markets as it secures the same advantages that have been provided by the Egyptian-European while preserving and boosting the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries. Moreover, he praised BEBA’s efforts in creating the link and opportunities for collaborations between the companies in both countries.
