Italy writes off Egypt's debts

"President Hosni Mubarak's visit to Italy is of special importance at the economic and political levels," Egypt's Embassy Plenipotentiary Trade Minister Nabil Mansour said.

"Between 2001 and 2005 Italy will gradually drop the $164.7 million in owed Egyptian debts, Mansour said, adding that a new economic agreement between the two countries would take care of that.

Speaking to Middle East News Agency (MENA), Mansour said the agreement also provides for repaying Italian loans in Egyptian currency to be deposited in a special account with Egyptian banks for financing environment conservation projects and Egyptian economy restructuring.

"Over the past short period Egyptian-Italian relations have witnessed marked development," Mansour said, adding that Italy ranked second worldwide after the US as Egypt's trade partner, and the first at the European level.

The Italian market consumes a considerable bulk of Egyptian exports which developed from $877.5 million in 1997 to about $962 million in 1999, according to the Egyptian official who took pride in the fact that during the first half of 2000 Egyptian exports to Italy fetched a record of $846 million.

Mansour expected the cash value of Egyptian exports to the Italian market this year to hit the $1 billion mark, as part of plans to further boost bilateral trade ties.