Egypt one of US important trade partners

The Egyptian-US President's Council will hold its first meeting in Washington in June after re-formulation of its objectives to cope with the current US administration, said Timothy Hausen, the US Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce.

The meeting, to be co-chaired by Minister of Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali and US Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans, will offer a chance to further bilateral trade and economic cooperation and probe means to remove obstacles impeding growth of trade exchange and investment cooperation, he said.

Hausen was speaking on the sidelines of a reception hosted by the Egyptian Embassy in honour of a delegation from the US Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, currently on a visit to Washington] since Monday. Hausen described Egypt as one of the US most important trade partners.

US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick will pay a visit to Cairo next month to meet with Egyptian senior officials to discuss means and steps that would pave the way for launching Egyptian-US free trade agreement negotiations, he added.

Muhammad Mansour, Head of the US Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, reviewed the contributions of the US economic assistance program to Egypt, which helped in many Egyptian modernization projects.

Hausen reviewed a host of issues to get the Egyptian economy out of its current malaise, noting they include acceleration of the privatization process, modernization of the customs system, development of the tourist sector and some topics pertaining to intellectual property.

On his part, Egypt's Ambassador to the United States Nabil Fahmi said trade cooperation aspects have represented an important part of the Egyptian-US relations over the past 25 years, noting that the United States is Egypt's biggest trade partner.

Egypt is the second biggest recipient of American aid worldwide and the fourth biggest in the Middle East region to have American investments after Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Israel.