Turkey-Egypt Business Forum to be held in Istanbul

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - The first Turkey-Egypt Business Forum will be held on Nov. 26 in Istanbul, in an attempt to revive bilateral economic and trade ties that have been put on hold since the 2013 military coup in Egypt.

The forum will be held jointly by the Turkish-Egyptian Business Council of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEIK), the Turkish-Egyptian Businessmen’s Association (TUMIAD) and the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA).

Two meetings will be held on different dates in Istanbul and Konya, and more than 100 businessmen from Egypt will join the forum, Atilla Ataseven, TUMIAD president, told Anadolu Agency.

“We will organize a forum in Turkey under the slogan 'Let's produce together',” he said.

“Our aim is to improve economic relations and increase the trade volume between the two countries,” Ataseven added.

The forum follows a visit by Rifat Hisarciklioglu, president of the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges, to Egypt this January.

The volume of trade between the two countries in 2005 was $954.5 million, which increased to more than $5 billion in 2012.

In the first seven months of 2017, the trade stood at $2.4 billion, according to the Turkish Economy Ministry.

Relations between the two countries have stalled since the Egyptian army’s ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi, a move Turkey describes as a “military coup".