Partnership agreement with Europe bolsters Egypt's economic polices

The Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Gamal Bayoumi stressed that the Egypt-EU partnership agreement aims at boosting Egypt's policies to liberalize trade, upgrade its competitive capabilities and open new markets in European and Mediterranean countries.

Addressing the fourth conference of the Egyptian society for marketing technologies, Bayoumi, who doubles as head of the Egypt-EU partnership agreement department, said the agreement would help Mediterranean countries to be part of the all-out European -Mediterranean free trade area.

Egypt's decision to join the Barcelona declaration reaffirms its tendencies to liberalize economic activities, enroll into world economy and accept peaceful coexistence and inter-culture dialogue, he added.

Bayoumi made it clear that Egypt alone receives third of the European aid to Mediterranean countries and is second only to morocco in this respect, the Palestinian authority and Tunisia.

He further added that the EU is the first trade partner for Egypt and the Arab states. The diplomat underlined that Egypt's trade with the EU is six times higher than that of its trade with the Arab states.