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ForMin Baconschi: Romanian companies are prepared to participate in new stage of Egypt's development
Romania can support the new stage of Egypt's development through Romanian companies, which can take part in the development of some sectors that are critical at present for the Egyptian economy, said Romanian chief diplomat Teodor Baconschi, on Monday evening, when meeting representatives of the Egypt-Romania Business Council and the Egyptian Businessmen's Association (EBA). He also suggested organizing an economic forum in Bucharest or Cairo this year according to the model of the one the Gulf countries already organized in spring.
'Between Romania and Egypt there is a traditional relation, we know each other, trust one another, the only thing we have to do is to make up the list of contacts again and start working,' said Minister Baconschi, who added that, in the new economic context of the democratic transition period in Egypt, there were numerous possibilities of economic cooperation on both sides.
He said that, during the economic forum organized in Bucharest together with the Gulf Cooperation Council, they reaffirmed Romania's role as an economic and financial relay for the Arab investors in South-Eastern Europe, but also in the EU, and that, in the relation with Egypt, it was necessary to organize a similar forum under the patronage of the EBA and the Egypt-Romania Business Council in Bucharest or Cairo, probably this autumn.
According to Minister Baconschi, the Romanian economy can go on absorbing Egyptian investments and the Romanian expertise in such fields as IT, agriculture, railways, infrastructure projects, natural gas extraction can be used by the Egyptian economy in the time to come. The Romanian chief diplomat added that Romania, in its capacity as a EU member state, could not only make the dialogue of Egypt with Brussels easier, but also develop common European funded projects. He said that 277 million dollars' worth of trade exchanges in 2010 was an amount too modest for the potential of the relation between the two countries and encouraged in this respect democratic reforms to be carried out and current difficulties in Egypt to be overcome.
In his turn chairman of the Egypt-Romania Business Council Hassan El Shafei said that, for 2015, they set the task to get 600 million dollars in bilateral economic exchanges as well as 10 million dollars a year in mutual investments for either country. He added that Romania had an expertise that is quite valuable for the Egyptian side in such fields as the heavy industry, food and agriculture, research, education and that the companies in the two countries could develop joint projects for getting access to third markets. Egypt offers its expertise on the growing African markets such as the ones in Ethiopia, Tunisia, etc.
Being present at the working lunch Minister Baconschi had with Egyptian businessmen, Nabil El-Arabi, chief diplomat in Cairo, emphasized the fact that Egypt was at present in a situation similar to the one Romania was in after the fall of the communist regime in 1989 and needed the support of all its friends. 'When looking at Romania's experience, we realize that we need your advice because you were successful in the tasks you set yourselves then,' said the Cairo chief diplomat.
He also mentioned the 'exemplary relations' existing between the two countries and stressed the fact that, for the next few years, Egyptian and Romanian businessmen must plan a level of bilateral trade exchanges amounting not to 600 million dollars, but to over one billion. Minister El-Arabi insisted on the trust and approval capital Romania had in Egypt and mentioned the thousands of Egyptian young people who attended and attend Romanian universities as well as the fact that, a few years ago, Bucharest was regarded by Cairo as more than the Paris of South-Eastern Europe. The Egyptian official also said that he wanted very much to visit Romania during his mandate.
In 2006-2008 the level of trade exchanges was about 360-370 million dollars, in 2009 it went down to about 300 million dollars and in 2010, to 277 million. In Egypt there are currently two Romanian economic counsellors, in Cairo and Alexandria.
Agerpres special correspondent Marius Fratila reports: Romania sees Egypt as a primordial player in the Middle East region and voices hope for the Cairo-based new authorities to adopt the same constructive approach to the Israeli-Arab peace process, Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Teodor Baconschi said on Tuesday when holding a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Nabil El-Arabi.
'Egypt plays a very important role in the developments unfolding in the Middle East and we share converging views about all these matters,' Minister Baconschi said.
The two officials tackled the situation of the Palestinian territories and the unrest engulfing Libya and Syria as well. When asked about Romania's stance on the conflicts from these two states, the Romanian top diplomat said that with respect to Libya 'the sooner Muammar Gaddafi cedes power, the sooner this country will have a brighter future.'
In addition, the foreign affairs minister considers that the situation from Syria is extremely worrying and the evolution is not at all positive.
'There are too many tensions and repressions of the popular protests, but we still hope that President Bashar Al-Assad will implement as soon as possible an entire package of democratic reforms in order to mitigate this internal uprising,' Baconschi also said.
The two chief diplomats also tackled the strengthening the two countries' economic exchanges, which stood at approximately 277 million dollars in 2010. A new session of the Romanian-Egyptian Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation will be organized this year and Minister Baconschi mentioned the possibility for Egyptian business people to participate in next year's edition of the Romania - Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Economic Forum due in Abu Dhabi.