Record high was highlighted at a meeting of the nations’ trade ministers and officials Joint committee emphasized importance of facilitating trade exchange and increasing joint investment CAIRO: Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Nevin Gamea said that the work of the Egyptian-Saudi Joint Committee has helped to boost the value of trade exchange between the two countries, which rose during 2021 to a record high of $8.02 billion. During a meeting in Riyadh yesterday with her Saudi counterpart, Maged Al-Qasabi, and a working group tasked with following up on the implementation of recommendations made by a ministerial-level meeting of the joint committee in Cairo last June, Gamea stressed the importance of putting those recommendations into practice. She added that Egypt has adopted a modern system of legislative rules and infrastructure to support global, commercial, industrial and investment development, and noted that her country appreciates the status, components and economic potential of its relationship with Saudi Arabia. She added that the location of both countries on key international shipping routes gives them the opportunity to expand commercial and economic partnerships and open up new markets in countries around the world. The joint committee also emphasized the importance of facilitating trade exchange and increasing joint investment and industrial projects. Gamea pointed out that contracts for an electricity interconnection project that will allow Egypt and the Kingdom to share power had been agreed and awarded on schedule. Both sides agreed to work to activate an executive program to enhance institutional cooperation, the mutual support of investment cooperation, and the exchange of information, technical expertise, laws and regulations related to investment, and to organize a workshop by the Saudi Ministry of Investment to review the services available to investors online and through business centers in the Kingdom. It was also agreed that the Saudi Ministry of Investment and the Federation of Saudi Chambers will work with the Egyptian General Investment Authority to prepare for the Saudi-Egyptian Investment Forum in Riyadh this year and to showcase the investment opportunities in both countries, as well as other recent initiatives designed to facilitate investment in Egypt. In terms of export development, the importance of finalizing a draft memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in the development of intra-trade movement between the two countries was emphasized. In the finance and banking sector, the Egyptian delegates welcomed a decision by Saudi cabinet to allow Banque Misr to operate in the Kingdom, and the opening of a branch of the National Bank of Egypt there. Both sides also agreed to develop a memorandum of understanding between the central banks in both countries for cooperation in the field of banking supervision.