Minister of Trade, Industry, World Bank delegation probe cooperation

Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil conferred with the mission of the Trade & Competitiveness Global Practice at the World Bank Group, led by Klaus Tilmes, on the economic reform programs carried out by the Egyptian government and a number of current World Bank programs and projects in Egypt.

During a plenary session of talks with the delegation, attended by several ministry leaderships, Kabil said the ministry is currently carrying out a comprehensive economic reform program that aims mainly at facilitating investment procedures and reducing the budget deficit.

The decision to liberalize the exchange rate of the dollar has directly helped increase Egyptian exports by dlrs 2 billion and reducing imports by dlrs 7 billion last year, he said, adding that exports were up in January this year by 25%, while imports went down by 25%.

The ministry is implementing an ambitious strategy on enhancing industrial development and foreign trade until 2020 that aims to increase industrial development rates and increasing the industry's contribution to the Gross National Product and promoting Egyptian exports to foreign markets.

The ministry has established two new entities, one to support small and medium-sized enterprises and activate funding and training and another to develop Egyptian exports to foreign markets through an all-out strategy in this respect, he added.

The strategy focuses on the need to boost national industry, increase industrial growth, facilitate procedures related to industrial licenses, boosting small and medium-sized enterprises and multiplying exports, he said.

Tilems stressed the World Bank's commitment to continuously work with the Egyptian government and the ministry of trade and industry at the current stage to push forward the economic reform, currently being implemented by the government and attract local and foreign investments.

The bank is currently carrying out a number of programs in Egypt in the fields of improving the atmosphere of business through upgrading the legislative environment and following up the implementation of the industrial licenses law and the law on single individual companies.