Russia-Egypt 2016 trade turnover hit $3.5 bln – Russian trade envoy

Trade turnover between Moscow and Cairo have reached $3.5 billion in 2016, Russian Trade Representative to Egypt, Fedor Lukashin told Sputnik.

Russia is one of Egypt’s biggest trade partners among the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) member states, more specifically, Russia has the 97-percent share in EAEU export sales to Egypt and 94-percent share in import from Egypt, according to Lukashin.

“The turnover between Russia and Egypt increased by almost 14 percent by December 2016, totaling $3.5 billion over three-month period. Russia’s export grew by 10 percent and the import from Egypt decreased by 10 percent. I hope that we have reached some $4 billion as of the end of the year,” Lukashin said.

Lukashin added that the 11-percent increase of the Russian export over the year’s 11-month period occurred mostly due to the delivery of agricultural raw materials, food and metals.

Lukashin also noted that the export from Egypt had dropped due to the 46-percent decrease in the supply of vegetables.

Moreover, over the past 1.5 years Russian companies invested about $1.5 billion in the development of Egypt’s oil and gas sector, Lukashin added.

“The [Russian] trade mission organized a number of talks between Russian oil and gas companies and Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla. The Egyptian oil and gas business needs huge investment and our Egyptian colleagues are interested in visits of potential investors,” Lukashin said.

Source: Sputnik