19/11/2007
Dr. Nader Riad was one of the speakers at the Trade Enhancement Program (TEP) closing conference, witnessed by Minister of Trade and Industry, Eng. Rachid Mohamed Rachid, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Economic Advisor, Mr. Jens Weidman, President of the European Commission, Mr. Klaus Eberman, and a group of experts, businesspeople and industrialists. In his speech, Dr. Riad said TEP helps enhance integration between Egypt and world countries, improve Egyptian product competitiveness and facilitate product access to European markets.(Available in Arabic –German in PDF)
Minister of Trade and Industry, Eng. Rachid Mohamed Rachid, said Cairo is hosting a meeting soon with EU officials to consider a program to finalize a roadmap for trade and economic relations between Egypt and the EU which is expected to be finalized in 2010. This came during Minister Rachid’s participation in the Trade Enhancement Program closing conference. Dr. Weidman voiced his country’s willingness to offer all support for Egyptian industry modernization plans using German technology. He said this is the chance for Egyptian and German businesses to increase their joint investments in all fields, particularly auto feeding industries and wind and solar power generation machinery. He said Egypt’s current economic reform improved its investment climate and deepened Egyptian economy’s integration into the global economy. Mr. Eberman said Egypt has become the largest investment attractive destination in the region. From 2004 to date, trade between Egypt and the EU climbed 56% to €1.6 billion. He added that there will be other complementary programs in the future in order to increase opportunities of investment and technology transfer and create a mechanism for Egypt-EU cooperation. Minister Rachid and Dr. Weidman also considered opportunities for establishing joint Egypt-German projects for wind and solar power generation machinery and equipment, benefiting from German technology in this domain and expanding clean and renewable energy production and applications. Minister Rachid and the German official also discussed activating the Mubarak-Merkel initiative for establishing an industrial zone in Egypt for auto feeding industries in 6th of October City, in collaboration with major German carmakers.
