SL, Egypt agree to resolve trade issues, expedite draft agreements, Mous

Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardane and Egyptian Ambassador Hussein El Saharty has agreed on the need to follow up technical meetings within the joint commission on economic cooperation to resolve pending trade issues, expedite pending draft agreements and Mous, the Egyptian Embassy said in a statement.

This was agreed upon at a discussion held last week between Trade Minister Bandula Gunawardane and Hussein El Saharty, Ambassador of Egypt, to explore the potentials of enhancing economic relations between Sri Lanka and Egypt, especially bilateral trade.

The two parties have agreed to revive the Egyptian-sri Lankan business association and organse large scale trade fairs and business to business meetings in Cairo and Colombo to reconnect Egyptian and Sri Lankan importers and exporters.

It has been noted during the meeting that although the value of bilateral trade between both countries averaged around USD 50 Million during the last few years, clearly not reflecting the huge potentials available to both Egypt and Sri Lanka given their strategic locations, a number of initiatives have been taken recently on both sides to encourage and enhance economic cooperation.

“These initiatives include the proposal of a draft MOU between the Export

Development Authority of Egypt and the Export Development Board of Sri Lanka, a draft agreement on Maritime Transport, an efficient mechanism to legalise commercial documents during COVID19 lockdowns whereby both countries were able to increase mutual trade, and finally the operation of the very first flights of Egyptair Cargo between Cairo and Colombo as an inaugural step towards re-establishing a regular air transport route between both countries,” it said.

The meeting was attended by Trade Secretary Bhadrani Jayawardena, Export Development Board (EDB) Director General Chitranjali Dissanayake, EDB Market Development Director Anoma Premathilake, and Karim Abulenein, Counsellor of the Egyptian Embassy in Colombo.

The value of bilateral trade between both countries averaged around USD 50 Million during the last few years