Egypt, Canada agree to increase bilateral trade
Egypt-Canada, Politics, 4/14/2000

President Mubarak had talks yesterday with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on ways of expanding bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, technical cooperation and training.

Talks also touched on the developments of the peace process and the role of Canada in eliminating obstacles facing it. Talks between Mubarak and Chretien come as a culmination of the talks held between the Egyptian and Canadian Premiers yesterday morning.

During those talks, Egypt and Canada signed four agreements and memos of understanding in the fields of agriculture, water, environment protection and small-sized projects.

Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the Canadian Prime Minister laid emphasis, during the talks attended by Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and Presidential Political Advisor Osama Al-Baz, on bilateral relations and the four signed agreements, reiterating his country's willingness to boost bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade, economy, training and technical cooperation. He also praised the role of the Egyptian and Arab communities in Canada.

Moussa said talks touched on the Middle East peace process and obstacles facing it, indicating that the Canadian Prime Minister would fly to Syria. "He had visited the Palestinian Authority regions and Israel," Moussa added.

Prime Minister Atef Ebeid and his Canadian counterpart on Wednesday agreed on a number of executive steps for expanding the volume of bilateral cooperation.

They stressed the importance of the role of Canada in supporting peace efforts. The Canadian Premier hailed the role of President Mubarak in achieving development in Egypt and pushing forward peace efforts in the region.

The Prime Minister said an agreement was reached with the Canadian side on increasing the volume of trade exchange from 200 million Canadian dollars to about one billion Canadian dollars during the coming five years, indicating that there are high prospects for increasing textile exports and Egyptian handicraft industries to Canada.

He said his talks with the Canadian Prime Minister dealt with ways of bolstering cooperation in the field of agriculture.

The first agreement covers a five-million-Canadian-dollar grant to finance the updating of legislation and policies on small- and medium-sized enterprises.

The second agreement concerns a memorandum of understanding on enlarging the scope of cooperation in the domains of technology, environment and relevant services with an emphasis on involving the private sector. The third is a protocol on importing potato seeds from Canada.

The fourth agreement concerns a B.O.T. (Build-operate-transfer) 180-million-Canadian-dollar project for supplying water to north of the Suez Gulf area to be implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Communities and a Canadian company. The company will produce and sell pure water to the area over 30 years.

The project stipulates the operation of two water treatment plants already built in the area and the establishing of one more with a daily capacity of 700 cm and the installation of a 132- kilometer-long pipeline from Cairo to Ain Sokhna.

Ebeid said Egypt will contract a Canadian company to develop the Egyptian postal service as well as dispatching Egyptian students in educational scholarships to Canada.

"We have also agreed to appoint a Canadian Assistant Minister of Agriculture of Egyptian origin and demanded a quota of 100-million-Canadian-dollar for elimination of landmines in the world," said Ebeid.

"Egypt will accelerate the pace towards operation of more flights to additional Canadian destinations where Egypt is requesting landing rights in two stations whereas the Canadian side is allowing only one place," said Ebeid.

Previous Stories:
  Canadian PM praises Mubarak¹s keenness on economic reform in Egypt   (4/13/2000)
  Egypt, Canada agree to increase bilateral trade   (4/13/2000)
  Mubarak receives Canadian Premier   (4/12/2000)

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