The Saudi-Egyptian Joint Committee concluded here today its 16th session under co-chairmanship of Saudi Minister of Commerce and Investment Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qassabi and Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Eng. Tariq Qabil in the presence of a number of senior officials of the two countries. In a key speech, Al-Qassabi stressed the serious efforts exerted by the governments of both Saudi Arabia and Egypt to improve trade relations and exploit investment opportunities, overcome the obstacles and difficulties hindering the flow of bilateral investments and increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries. "The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince, Vice President of the Council of the Ministers and Minister of Defense, are keen to strengthen the Saudi-Egyptian partnership in various fields", he confirmed. For his part, Qabil expressed thanks to and appreciation of the Saudi Government for the continuous communication to push forward the Saudi-Egyptian joint relations at all levels and trade relations in particular. Following a series of bilateral meetings over the last two days, discussing a number of topics on the agenda of the committee, the technical teams signed the minutes of the joint committee Five working groups were formed to discuss issues in the economic, commercial, investment, industry, cultural, educational and training fields. The two sides stressed the importance of continuing coordination of joint positions in international and regional forums, especially within the framework of the World Trade Organization, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. They also highlighted the importance of enhancing cooperation in the intra-trade movement between the two countries and small and medium enterprises. The volume of trade exchange between the Kingdom and Egypt for the year 2016 amounted to US$ 5.841 million. The Kingdom's exports for the same year reached about US$ 3.726 million while the imports amounted to US$ 2,841 million.
