Cooperation of Two D-8 Member States: Turkey will Invest More in Egypt

Cairo, Egypt | January 20, 2008 by D-8 Secretariat

The Turkish Finance Minister, Kemal Unakitan, said that Turkey expects her investment in Egypt, especially in Cairo and Alexandria, to increase, jumping from the current figure of approximately $500 million to $2 billion within two years, reported the Turkish TodaysZaman newspaper.

Accompanying President Abdullah Gül and 200 Turkish businessmen to Cairo, Unakitan made a speech at the Turkish-Egyptian Business Forum last week. He underlined the importance of the visit and said they consider Egypt a strategic partner with its population of 80 million and mostly integrated free market economy. Unakitan said the trade volume between the two countries was around $700 million in 2005. But he said the trade volume had increased to $1.6 billion in 2007 and added that their aim was to further increase trade volume to $5 billion in the middle term. Unakitan said transportation channels between the two countries have to be developed in order to achieve the business goals and that Turkish Airlines should launch direct flights to Egypt’s second largest city, Alexandria, as soon as possible.

Boosting Trade in Every Sector

In the spirit of mutual benefit of trade, Turkish fresh fruit producers have been heading to Egypt as the Egyptian government has opened its agricultural land of 250,000 acres to investors in return for a low long-term lease since December 2007.

Aegean Exporters’ Association Executive Board Chairman Mustafa Türkmenoglu, who wants to become a global actor by increasing competitive power in the citrus sector, plans to produce citrus crops and fresh grapes on an area spanning 20,000 acres in Cairo and Alexandria. His company aims to export citrus fruit to Russia, Ukraine and European Union countries.

Türkmenoglu has decided to invest in Egypt to protect overseas markets.  “We should protect both our markets and our company by becoming a global actor. If everything was great in our country, we would have nothing to do in Egypt. Today, the world’s fresh fruit market forces us to be a supplier,” Türkmenoglu said, adding, “our vision cannot be limited to being a supplier. We will compete by forming bases and logistic centers in certain places around the world,” as quoted by the Turkish Referans newspaper.

Turkish fresh fruit and vegetable exporters try different methods to survive, said Türkmenoglu. Some companies that don’t want to lose the Russian and Ukrainian markets, export by supplying products from Egypt, Morocco, Syria and the Netherlands, he added. “We have applied to the Egyptian government for 20,000 acres of land. The leasing cost varies according to the location of the land and its infrastructure. For instance, 5,000 acres of land may cost up to $500,000.” The land Türkmenoglu prefers is located 180 kilometers south of Alexandria. “The negotiations will end in January. After that, we will invest for four to five years. With an investment of 20 million euros, we plan to produce 50,000 tons of citrus and early-riser fresh grapes,” he said.

Turkey and Egypt are two of the D-8 member countries that have ratified the strategic trade agreement. Both countries has also signed the Preferential Trade Agreement in the 5th Summit of D-8 in Bali, Indonesia, in May 2006. D-8 Secretary General, Dipo Alam, said that the cooperation between these countries should kept increased as an economic target to be achieved within D-8 framework. In this regards, the visit of Turkish president, Abdullah Gül, to Egypt is expected to strengthen the investment level of the two countries.

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