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"Businessmen from Egypt have visited Turkey for the first time since the uprising in February, and are looking for ways to resume ties with the country as there have already been deepening relations between Turkey and Egypt since the uprising. A delegation of 41 Egyptian businessmen visited the southern province of Adana and Mersin as well as two major industrial cities in the south to hold bilateral meetings with Turkish businessman. The province of Adana is the 13th largest goods supplier to Egypt, exporting nearly $25 million to Egypt annually.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently visited Egypt, with part of his aim being to smooth the path for Turkish and Egyptian businessman to get together, improving business bonds between the two countries. The trade volume between Turkey and Egypt reached $3.4 billion by the end of 2010, and this figure is projected to increase to around $10 billion within the next five years.
This is quite remarkable as until quite recently there were very few Turkish businessmen in Egypt. Over the last five years Turkish businesses have invested around $1.5 billion in Egypt and this is expected to increase to around $5 billion by 2015. The two countries have been working on a draft for a free trade zone agreement which is expected to be signed in 2020, but there are hopes that the Egyptian interim government will begin issuing five years visas for Turkish businessman to help accelerate business relations between the two countries.
The vice-chairman for the chamber of commerce in Alexandria has already commented that they will do their best to help ease the assessment process for Turkish investors in Egypt, as they would like to have closer bonds especially in the construction and textile sectors.
