Nevin Gamea, Minister of Trade and Industry, announced that the Egyptian exports succeeded during 2021 in achieving positive indicators, as the total value of the Egyptian exports to foreign markets during the first 11 months of this year amounted to 29 billion and 87 million dollars.
This is compared to about 22 billion and 868 million dollars during the same period in 2020, with an increase of 27%, and a difference of 6 billion and 219 million dollars, pointing out that the Egyptian exports are expected to exceed 31 billion dollars by the end of 2021, which proves the capability of the export sectors in dealing with the global crisis imposed by the outbreak of Covid-19 since the beginning of last year, despite the challenges witnessed by the global economy, which in turn affect the Egyptian economy, including high inflation rates and shipping prices.
The Minister said that the achieved positive indicators reflect the political leadership and the government’s great concern with the file of export, which comes at the top of the priorities of the work plan of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, especially since exports represent one of the most important sources of the national economy and an essential element in bringing in hard currency and increasing the cash reserve from Foreign Currency.
Nevin Gamea indicated that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s decision to restructure the Supreme Council of Export headed by His Excellency reflects the Egyptian state’s will to achieve an unprecedented boom in this important sector, which contributes to the implementation of the President’s directives to bring the exports to 100 billion dollars annually.
The Minister pointed out that Egypt’s presidency of the COMESA comes in line with the great efforts made by the Egyptian Government to strengthen its economic relations with the African market, which comes at the top of the target markets for the Ministry’s plan for doubling the exports, noting that the Egyptian Government aspires to achieve the maximum benefit from Egypt’s presidency of the COMESA for the second time, after 20 years since the last time that Egypt assumed the presidency of the organization in 2001, in increasing and deepening the bonds of cooperation with the countries of the organization in many fields, which supports the strategic direction of the Egyptian state towards the continent.
Assuming this seat will contribute to strengthening Egypt’s great efforts to achieve economic integration in Africa, and to overcome the obstacles that may hinder free trade between the COMESA member states, and to continue the Egyptian efforts exerted with the African countries to support continental economic integration, and to intensify investment cooperation between investment agents in Africa, as well as opening channels of communication between state governments and representatives of the private sector to advance the movement of investments within the continent.
As for the file of export support and the payment of the delayed dues to exporters, Nevin Gamea pointed out that this matter has been radically resolved. It is credited to the political leadership and the government of Dr. Mostafa Madbouly that it managed this file with great professionalism, as the file of arrears was ended by introducing several initiatives, including the cash payment initiative, programs to support exhibitions, air freight and Fruit Fly, bringing the total export support disbursed during the year 2021 to about 6.9 billion pounds, and 1355 companies have benefited from it.
