CAIRO — Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Nevin Gamea met Oct. 28 with a high-level Ukrainian delegation and agreed to strengthen cooperation in the furniture industry, especially since the largest furniture city in Africa and the Middle East is located in Egypt, known as Damietta furniture city. The two sides also agreed that Egypt would turn to Ukrainian wood products in the production of Egyptian furniture, which would open the door to new markets in Africa.

Minister of International Cooperation Rania al-Mashat held Oct. 28 a similar meeting with the Ukrainian delegation to discuss bilateral cooperation, in light of what was agreed upon during a July 24 telephone conversation between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky. The meeting focused on the preparations to hold the eighth session of the Egyptian-Ukrainian Joint Committee for Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Cairo during the first quarter of 2021.

The volume of Egyptian-Ukrainian trade exchange exceeded $2 billion in 2019. Egypt is seen as Ukraine’s largest trade partner in Africa and the Middle East.

Rashad Abdo, head of the Egyptian Center For Economic Studies, said that cooperation between Egypt and Ukraine in the furniture industry is a significant step for the development of this field that is important to both Cairo and Ukraine.