Egypt to endorse free trade agreement with United Arab Emirates

Egyptian Minister of Trade and Supply Ahmed Goweili announced yesterday at the inauguration of the Gitex Cairo fair that an agreement for free trade will be endorsed with the United Arab Emirates within the coming months, where measures for reducing customs fees will take place through the next five years are currently under study between Egypt and the UAE before the agreement is signed.

The Egyptian minister of trade said the mechanisms for cooperation between Egypt and the Arab states are going on towards strengthening cooperation in commerce and investment and that Egypt is about to achieve a great advance in the sector of information technology where it is the largest market in Middle East.

El-Goweili said the Gitex fair promoting information products such as computers and software has revealed the development achieved by Egyptian companies in the application of software in all fields of administration, which means that Egypt is ready to be a center for the Middle East countries in this field.

Furthermore, Mohammed El-Abaar, the chairman of the economic development department in Dubai, which organizes the fair, said the number of Egyptian and international companies taking part in the fair amounts to 80 companies, in addition to 120 small companies, which confirms that the Egyptian market is ready to progress to a higher level of development in the information technology sector.