Cairo: In the context of follow-up on the outcomes of the significant visit undertaken by H.E. Engineer Hassan El-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, to Trkiye during November, which featured discussions and resulted in an official invitation to Turkish Minister of Trade ‚¬Å¡¬€š¬…€œmer Bolat to visit Egypt in early December for the Fourth D-8 Ministers of Trade Meeting and to resume the high-level ministerial trade consultation mechanism in Cairo. A high-level coordination meeting was held today between the Egyptian and Turkish sides.

According to State Information Service Egypt, the Egyptian side was chaired by Dr. Abdel Aziz El-Sherif, Head of the Egyptian Commercial Service, and Head of the Egyptian Technical Secretariat for the High-Level Trade Consultation Mechanism, while the Turkish side was chaired by Hosnu Dilemre, Director General of International Agreements at the Turkish Ministry of Trade and Head of the corresponding Turkish side.

The meeting addressed the coordination between the technical secretariats of both sides regarding the technical and organizational preparations for the meetings of the trade consultation mechanism. The two parties agreed on joint coordination to prepare the agenda for the meetings that will precede the ministerial meeting, with the participation of the relevant national entities from both countries, scheduled to be held in Cairo during the first week of December.

Dr. Abdel Aziz El-Sherif confirmed that the resumption of the high-level trade consultation mechanism represents the culmination of efforts by the ECS and its trade office in Istanbul, particularly amid the progress and increasing momentum in trade and investment relations between Egypt and Trkiye. This underscores the need for high-level institutional frameworks to facilitate periodic consultations and deepen the economic partnership between the two countries.

El-Sherif explained that Egypt is Trkiye's top trading partner in Africa, with bilateral trade reaching $9 billion in 2024 and Turkish investments in Egypt totaling around $4 billion.

The meeting was attended by Ms. Noha Kamal, Commercial Minister Plenipotentiary and Director of Eastern European Affairs; Mr. Ali Pasha, Commercial Minister Plenipotentiary and Head of the Commercial Office in Istanbul; Mr. Huda Durra, Second Commercial Secretary at the Office; Mr. Jihad Shaltout, Commercial Attach© at the Department of European Countries Affairs at the Commercial Representation; and from the Turkish side, Mr. Ismail Sinan, Director of the Africa Department at the Turkish Ministry of Trade.