The Chairman of the Turkish-Egyptian Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey, Mustafa Denizer, announced that Turkish investments in Egypt have reached a total of approximately $3 billion.
In statements made to the Anadolu Agency, Denizer highlighted that these investments directly provide 70,000 job opportunities and indirectly create around 100,000 jobs, generating an annual revenue of $1.5 billion.
Denizer also noted the significant growth in trade volume between the two nations, which started to surge following the Free Trade Agreement signed with Egypt in 2007.
The current trade volume has now reached $10 billion, with projections indicating a potential increase to $15-20 billion over the next five years.
This positive trajectory in economic relations comes in the wake of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Egypt, the first in 11 years, upon an invitation from his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
Both leaders have agreed to work towards boosting their trade exchange to $15 billion in the coming years, marking a significant milestone in the bilateral relations between Turkey and Egypt.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has stated that the normalization of relations with Egypt has yielded positive results in Libya and Gaza. This comes alongside the first visit of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to Cairo in 12 years.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Tanju Bilgiç stated that “the results of normalization with Egypt have appeared in Libya and Gaza,” and that “bilateral cooperation will not have negative consequences, as Egypt and Turkey are two of the most important countries in the region,” according to Turkish media reports.
Bilgiç emphasized that Ankara attaches great importance to the security, stability, and prosperity of Libya, and indicated that the Turkish Consulate General in Benghazi will be opened soon.