ARMENIA CONSIDERING POSSIBLE FREE TRADE ZONE WITH EGYPT
ITAR-TASS News Agency, Russia
April 15, 2007 Sunday 04:32 PM EST
Armenia is considering the possible formation of a free trade zone with
Egypt for the benefit of bilateral trade, President Robert Kocharian
told a Sunday press conference in Cairo, following negotiations with
Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Mohamed Nazif.
"A favorable investment climate is forming in Egypt, and that would
help Armenian businessmen and investors to implement joint projects
in the food and textile industries, information technologies,
communications, energy and tourism on the Egyptian land," Kocharian
said.
"Swiftly developing information technologies are bound to become a
key sphere of interaction," he said, voicing hope for the soonest
specific projects.
He said they had also agreed on exchanging specialists.
The negotiations with Nazif and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
centered on ways to strengthen bilateral relations and enlarge trade.
The chiefs of state also discussed regional and international problems,
including the Iranian nuclear dossier.
In the opinion of Egypt, bilateral trade is still low although it
tripled to $2.26 million in 2006. There are seven companies with
Egyptian capital in Armenia, and the sides are developing relations
in science, culture, education and tourism.
About 8,000 members of the Armenian community in Egypt play a
considerable role in the Egyptian political life. The community
exceeded 40,000 people in the 1940s, but many Armenians had to leave
in the 1960s because of the new socialist orientation of Egypt.
There are Armenian churches and schools in modern Egypt. The Armenians
release two dailies and one weekly and an Arabic-language journal.