UAE Minister of Economy Abdulla bin Touq Al-Marri said that the UAE is committed and keen on cooperating with Egypt across various sectors in a meeting held on Thursday with Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat at the ministry’s headquarters.

The meeting tackled the matter of exploring bilateral cooperation fields and discussed reactivating the Joint-Higher Committee and strengthening relations between both countries across several fields of development.

He said that the two countries have close strategic relations that stem from their long history as allies, and they managed to achieve remarkable development over the past years in various fields, including the economy and commercialism.

Al-Marri also applauded the developmental achievements Egypt has seen under the leadership of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi; a model that has become replicable on regional and international levels.

The meeting came within the framework of periodic meetings held by Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners to discuss strengthening joint cooperation relations, advancing the country’s national agenda via development financing agreements, and accelerating the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Al-Mashat and Al-Marri stressed their countries’ commitment to joint cooperation with the aim of implementing directives from political leadership to maximise the potential of the diverse resources in Egypt and the UAE to strengthen the status of both countries regionally and internationally.

During the meeting, Al-Mashat applauded the development relations between Egypt and the UAE through the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development and the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, expressing how the ministry’s cooperation with these institutions has supported the implementation of Egypt’s development strategy.

The minister also emphasised the importance of reactivating the joint higher committee between both countries to further strengthen development cooperation across various fields.

Al-Mashat also congratulated the UAE’s government on organising Expo Dubai 2020, which will be held on 1 October 2021 and will witness the participation of a large number of countries displaying the latest developments in architecture and technology.

“Trade exchange between Egypt and the UAE has reached an important level of growth that can be doubled, as the UAE’s market is the first destination for Egyptian exports, and annually receives about 11 percent of the country’s total exports to the world,” Al-Mashat pointed out.

“With regards to investment cooperation, the UAE contributes over $7 billion in the Egyptian market, and this is in addition to investments made through signed memoranda of understanding that strengthen cooperation.”

Relations between the two countries date back to the 70s — when the UAE was established — and in 1988, an agreement was signed to initiate joint higher committees between the two countries, of which two sessions have been held in 1990 and 1991.