The Chairman of the Bulgarian Industrial Association Radosvet Radev held a work meeting on February 3rd, 2021, with the newly appointed Bulgarian Ambassador to the Arab Republic of Egypt - Deyan Katrachev. Veselin Iliev - General Director of the International Economic Relations Center also participated in the meeting.
The visits main goal was to exchange information on the opportunities for a future partnership and development of the Bulgarian-Egyptian economic relations.
According to the products trade in the last two or three years, Egypt is among Bulgaria's major trading partners in the Middle East and on the African continent. In the period 2007–2016, the exchange of goods was on a steady rise, reaching USD 707.4 million at the end of 2016. Тhe trade balance is positive for Bulgaria until 2015.
In 2018, Bulgarian exports to Egypt consist of petroleum oils, refined honey, oils and other products, wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye, fitting items for pipelines, iron sheets, copper articles, etc. and imports from Egypt - from crude petroleum oils, mineral or chemical nitrogen fertilizers, salt, incl. Cooking salt, polymers of propylene, etc. For 2018 the trade between Bulgaria and Egypt declined compared to 2017, which value fell to 882.2 million USD (exports to Egypt 268.9 million USD and imports in Bulgaria amounting to 613.3 million USD).
For 2019, the bilateral trade reached 1270.4 million USD (growth of over 44% compared to 2018), of which Bulgarian exports amounted to 434.3 million USD. (growth of over 61% 2018) and imports from Egypt reached 836.1 million USD. (growth of 36% compared to 2018).
During the first half of 2020 the trade between Bulgaria and Egypt decined by -37.8% with a total value of 352 million USD. (exports to Egypt 93.8 million USD and imports in Bulgaria amounting to 258.2 million USD) compared to the same period in 2019.
BIA’s Chairman Radosvet Radev shared some personal impressions from his participation in the business forum, which took place during President Rumen Radev’s official visit in Egypt in March 2019. He stated that 30 Bulgarian companies took part in the delegation, some of which were able to establish successful partnerships in the arms industry and IT sector. According to Mr. Radev, these partnerships had been established months before the actual business forum. For this reason, Mr. Radev appealed for more B2B meetings and initiatives in which the economic relations between the two countries come as a priority.
According to our new ambassador in Egypt, the Arab country continue to see Bulgaria as a "gateway to Europe" and the interests in logistics areas and warehouses for storage of agricultural products, tourism and the market for live animals are arising.
The relations between the Egyptian business and the Bulgarian Industrial Association date back to 1998 with a Cooperation Agreement signed in Cairo between the Association of Businessmen of the Autonomous Republic of Egypt and BIA, and a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Federation of Egyptian Industry and the Bulgarian Industrial Association. Recentlz, however potential partnerships are mainly formed due to the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), through which the International Economic Relations Center at BIA supports companies and organizations in their international activities.
Mr. Katrachev is expected to officially enter in office in March 2021.
