Русский
The 15th meeting of the Intergovernmental Russian-Egyptian Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation was held in Moscow on 14 May. It was held by Anton Alikhanov, Head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, and Hassan Al-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Arab Republic of Egypt. About ₽320 billion has been allocated for geological exploration in 2023 and a record ₽450 billion roubles in 2024, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said at a board meeting of the Federal Agency for Subsoil Use (Rosnedra).
National Currencies
Russia and Egypt are discussing broadening the use of their national currencies in cross-border settlements, with about 40% of the countries’ mutual settlements are currently being settled in currencies other than the dollar and euro. Trade turnover between Russia and Egypt exceeded $9 billion in 2024, up nearly 32% year-on-year.
Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov said regarding the results of the meeting of the Russia-Egypt commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation. “We discussed many issues related to settlements. We hope that there are consultations between our central banks in the near future, and we are able to increase the share of our currencies in mutual settlements and move away from dependence on the euro and the dollar.”
Agriculture
Russia is interested in expanding exports of Russian agricultural products to Egypt, including meat, oil and fat products, dairy products and fish. ‘We are interested in… expansion of the commodity nomenclature by increasing supplies of Russian meat, oil and fat products, dairy and fish products, as well as increasing Egyptian fruit and vegetable imports,’ the head of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry said, specifying that Egypt is one of the leaders in imports of Russian wheat. Russia imports citrus fruits, potatoes, nuts, grapes and other products from the country.
Free Trade Zone
Alikhanov noted that the main driver for increasing trade turnover should be the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Economic Union, as well as the recognition of standardization requirements of the two countries. The Minister stressed the importance of the implementing the project to create a Russian industrial zone within the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which will deepen industrial co-operation between the states. ‘The expansion of the perimeter and intensity of trade will also have the most positive impact on deepening industrial co-operation. We are ready to consider various initiatives to realize joint technological productions with our Egyptian partners,’ he said.
Energy
The Russia-Egypt commission on trade, economic, scientific and technical cooperation during a meeting on Wednesday discussed cooperation in the oil and gas sector, including constructing LNG terminals in the African country, Russia’s Industry and Trade Minister Anton Alikhanov told journalists.
“Projects to construct LNG terminals are under discussion, though I could probably not say anything more specific at this time. The work is underway, however,” Alikhanov said regarding the representatives of Russian oil and gas companies participating in the intergovernmental commission meeting.
Egypt resumed LNG imports in June 2024, for the first time since 2018, which was due to a rapidly widening gap between gas supply and demand. According to Gas Exporting Countries Forum data, Egypt’s gas production decreased by 7.7 billion cubic meters (bcm) or 11.5% in 2023, while domestic consumption increased by 0.9 bcm or 1.4% to 61 bcm, resulting in gas exports falling by 6.4 bcm or 53% to 5.2 bcm. LNG accounted for most of the drop in exports, falling 6.14 bcm or 54%. Egypt’s gas liquefaction capacity is 12 million tons per year (20 bcm). Egypt halted LNG exports in April 2024 due to a shortage of natural gas. In total, the country imported about 2.34 million tons of LNG – approximately 350,000 tons per month – in 2024.
The discussions resulted in the signing of a memorandum of co-operation between the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone. In the presence of the heads of the Russian and Egyptian authorities, the Russian developer and the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone signed an agreement on the long-term right to use the site, which sets out the commercial conditions for its exploitation.
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