RIYADH — The volume of trade exchange between Saudi Arabia and Egypt reached SR221 billion during the past 5 years, the Saudi Commerce Ministry (MOC) announced. MOC stated that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries witnessed a growth of 40% in 2022 reaching SR76.5 billion, compared to SR54.5 billion in 2021. In 2020, the Saudi-Egyptian trade exchange amounted to SR29 billion, and SR36 billion in 2019, while it amounted to about SR25 billion in 2018. Saudi Arabia ranked second among Egypt's trading partners in 2022. The General Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce is organizing the first Gulf-Egyptian Business Forum, which will be held from 22 to 33 November in Cairo. The participants in the forum, that include officials and businessmen from the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and Egypt, seek for the forum to come up with recommendations that contribute to strong economic partnerships between the two sides. The president of the Federation of Gulf Chambers, Hassan Al-Huwaizi, highlighted the economic relations between Egypt and the GCC countries. He stated that according to a recent study made by the federation, the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the GCC countries exceeded $30 billion in 2022, of which $20.4 billion for Gulf exports and $9.5 billion for Gulf imports from Egypt. Al-Huwaizi stated Gulf investments in Egypt extend over dozens of years, and have increased in recent years, following Egyptian economic reforms, as well as the improvement of the investment environment and efforts to attract Gulf investments. The volume of Gulf investments in Egypt exceeds $62 billion, Al-Huwaizi said, noting that there are more than 8,500 Gulf companies investing in Egypt. Al-Huwaizi expressed his aspirations for the forum to come up with meaningful recommendations that constitute a real breakthrough toward building strong economic partnerships and relations between the two sides, He is also looking forward to the private sector to have a pivotal role in strengthening the economic relations of the GCC countries and Egypt.
