Chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) Ahmed el Wakil met on Thursday with Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, who is on his first visit to Egypt.

The meeting was also attended by Director for the Neighborhood at EuropeAid Michael K?hler and Director for Middle East and North Africa in the EU European External Action Service Christian Berger, as well as the European mission in Egypt.

In statements on Thursday, the FEDCOC chairman said that the business community attached importance to economic ties with the European Union. 

EU is the main partner for Egypt and its member states in the commercial, investment, technological and educational fields, he added. 

Talks with the EU side focused on the current economic situation in Egypt and other Mediterranean countries, in addition to mechanisms proposed by the business community to get out of the current economic crisis, lure more investments, beef up exports, improving technology transfer and human resource development and secure new jobs, Wakil said.

Wakil further called for offering technical assistance to Egypt in the legislative procedures carried out by the country to improve the business climate.

He also urged the EU to provide technical assistance to Egypt in the establishment of social safety nets needed to protect the ordinary citizen against the temporal effects of the economic reform.

He expressed the business community's support of Barcelona Declaration and Euro-Mediterranean partnership that aims to turn the Mediterranean into a common area of peace, stability and prosperity through the reinforcement of political dialogue, security, and economic, financial, social and cultural cooperation. 

The visit of Johannes Hahn to Egypt provided an opportunity for EU and Egypt to enhance their partnership towards stability, security and prosperity.

In 2001, the European Union and Egypt signed signed an Association Agreement that entered into force in 2004 and are currently in the process of defining Partnership Priorities under the revised European Neighborhood Policy (ENP).

The EU aid portfolio to Egypt totals more than €1.1 billion in on-going grant commitments.

Source: MENA