US-Egypt Business Council to visit US next April

The US-Egypt Business Council is preparing to send a trade delegation comprised of a number of Egyptian companies to visit the United States in April, to discuss increasing investment and trade exchange between the two countries.

Omar Mohanna, chairperson of the US-Egypt Business Council, expects economic relations between Egypt and the US to recover under the new US administration led by president Donald Trump.

Mohanna said that total US investments in Egypt until March 2016 are estimated at about $21.4bn, and likely to increase in the next period. He told Daily News Egypt that the trade exchange between Egypt and US amounted to $3bn from January to June 2016, of which $2bn were imports, pointing out that the coming period will witness more trade cooperation between the two countries.

Mohanna said that US investments in Egypt and the volume of the trade exchange do not accurately reflect the real relationship between the two countries. He added that Egypt has witnessed significant economic changes in 2016, most notably the frequent hikes of the US dollar exchange rate and the Central Bank of Egypt’s (CBE) decision to float the Egyptian pound in November, as well as the partial liberalisation of fuel prices.