Egypt and Israel have been discussing boosting trade ties amid a worsening economic crisis which has hit the North African country and saw the Egyptian pound’s devaluation against the US dollar.
“The bilateral trade ties are expected to strengthen in the upcoming months, which will include Israel exporting food produce to Egypt,” a source close to the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) trade agreement, who requested to remain anonymous, told The New Arab.
QIZ was signed in 2004 between Egypt, Israel and the US. The agreement allows the export of duty and tax-free products from Egypt to the US, provided that Israeli components make up a certain percentage of them, which according to a 2017 amendment of the deal, should stand at 10.5 per cent.
“Israel seems to have been keen on making use of the economic crisis in Egypt to broaden cooperation in several fields under the umbrella of the QIZ,” the QIZ source told The New Arab, without giving further details.
Israeli media recently reported that an Egyptian business delegation was expected in Israel “soon”, to sign deals that include importing food products from Israel, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, TNA’s Arabic language sister site reported.
Last year, the Times of Israel news outlet reported, that the two countries were looking to increase annual trade (excluding tourism and natural gas exports) to about US $700 million by 2025.
Late Egyptian president Anwar Sadat normalised relations with Israel in the 1970s. At the diplomatic level, Egypt currently treats Israel as a friendly country with strong ties in different fields, particularly security and economy.
In June 2022, a 12-member Egyptian delegation from the textile and garment industry visited Israel for the first time in a decade as part of the QIZ.
Over the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russian war have been key factors in the spiralling Egyptian economy, which led the import-dependant country to take a series of controversial economic measures.
