ArmInfo.Cairo attaches importance to the claunch of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Egypt. Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly said this yesterday at the meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Mher Grigoryan.
According to the press service of the Armenian government, the Egyptian Prime Minister praised the efforts of the Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia in this process.
Expressing gratitude for the reception, Mher Grigoryan stressed that for Armenia - a member of the EAEU - it is very important to develop friendly and mutually beneficial relations with Egypt, including in the trade and economic sector. Presenting the volume of trade of the EAEU countries with Egypt, the Deputy Prime Minister expressed the hope that the established cooperation would be a good basis for a successful negotiation process and the signing of a free trade agreement.
During the meeting, the interlocutors discussed the state of the Armenian-Egyptian relations and opportunities for their development. Mher Grigoryan noted that despite the fact that diplomatic relations were established only 27 years ago, both states have deep historical friendly ties, as evidenced by the powerful Armenian Diaspora of Egypt. The parties stressed the importance of Armenian-Egyptian cooperation in educational and cultural, tourism and other areas. The presence of over 50 documents provide opportunities for the development of cooperation in all areas.
At the same time, according to the press service of the Eurasian Economic Commission, the EAEU and Egypt successfully completed the first round of negotiations on the conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement, which was held in Cairo (Egypt) on January 15-17. In connection with the commencement of the talks, a visit was paid to Cairo by Armenian Deputy Prime Minister, Chairman of the Council of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC) Mher Grigoryan and member of the Board (Minister) for EEC Trade, Veronica Nikishina. The parties discussed the main provisions of the agreement, fixed the agreed positions and outlined the schedule for further work.
The EAEU and Egypt demonstrated readiness for a constructive dialogue on the whole range of issues raised in the agreement, and confirmed their desire to develop a full-scale progressive agreement aimed at ensuring high-quality predictability of trade conditions and transparency of trade regulation. The trade agreement will create new opportunities for the EAEU countries to develop and diversify trade with Egypt. The trade turnover between the EAEU countries and Egypt for the ten months of 2018 amounted to $ 5.8 billion, an increase of 21.2% compared with the same period in 2017. During the visit, high-level meetings of Mher Grigoryan and Veronika Nikishina were held with Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly and Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Amr Nassar. The parties noted the high significance of the future agreement for the development of trade and economic relations between the EAEU countries and Egypt and expressed their readiness to provide the necessary support to delegations for the successful advancement of the negotiations.
To recall, at present the Eurasian Economic Union is negotiating on the conclusion of free trade agreements with the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Republic of Singapore, the Republic of Serbia and the State of Israel.