The ceremony took place at the site of the National Chamber of Entrepreneurs of Kazakhstan "Atameken". The delegation was represented by Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Kazakhstan Haytham Kamel, executive director of the Industrial Modernization Center of Egypt, who is also the Commissioner General of EXPO Astana - 2017 Ahmed Taha and others. From Kazakhstani side, the meeting was attended by the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan Ayan Erenov and his deputy Nuraly Bukeikhanov.
According Bukeikhanov, the memorandum will allow Kazakh companies to deepen bilateral cooperation, to open up new export opportunities in the first place, the national agricultural and food products. "Egypt is the largest importer of lamb and beef. Taking into account the changed rate of tenge and fuel prices, it is currently profitable for entrepreneurs to export lamb to Egypt and to the Middle East. Egypt imports about 100 thousand tons of meat annually. We believe that Kazakhstan may take up to 5% of this volume, that is, to export 5 thousand tons of meat per year,” he said.
The representative of Atameken said that trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Egypt currently includes primarily pharmaceutical products supplied by Egypt, as well as raw materials and oil products from our side. However, according to Bukeikhanov, there is a huge potential for export of agricultural products from Kazakhstan to Egypt. In addition to mutton, these are dairy products, wheat and flour. "All entrepreneurs who are interested in this cooperation may apply to the Chamber of Commerce of Kazakhstan, where they will be assisted in entering the Middle East markets," he added.
"The main purpose of signing the Memorandum is the intensification of cooperation between our countries in the sphere of trade, economy and industrialization. A variety of events with participation of Kazakhstani and Egyptian companies will be held during the EXPO 2017, which will also give impetus to the development of our relations,” said, in turn, Ahmed Taha.
Trade turnover between the two countries last year amounted to 49 million dollars. Of these, 17 million - is import of Egyptian products in Kazakhstan, the remaining amount is the export of Kazakh products to Egypt.
Resourse: KAZINFORM
