The formation of a bilateral Business Council comes at a time when the political leaderships of the two countries have given a major strategic boost to the relationship

Saudi Arabia and Egypt agree to establish a Business Council

AFP PHOTO/TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shaking hands with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a meeting as part of an official visit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 23, 2017

Enrique Fernández

Updated: 15/12/22

Saudi Arabia announced the formation of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council for a new mandate. The development of the Council will have Bandar al-Amiri as its executive director, who stated that the council will work to fulfil its role of fostering relations between the two nations in terms of trade cooperation, promoting collaboration between the Saudi business communities and ultimately resolving the issues facing both states.

The creation of this new body will enhance the trade capacity of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Trade between Egypt and Arab countries reached $21.9bn during the first nine months of 2022, a year-on-year increase of $3.5bn, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS). This represents an annual increase of close to 20 per cent over the same period last year. In contrast, Egyptian exports to the Arab kingdom rose by only 7.6 per cent.

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Saudi Arabia topped the list of Arab countries importing from Egypt during the January-September 2022 period, with the value of Egypt's exports reaching $1.8bn, followed by the UAE, Libya and Sudan with $1.3bn, $874.60m and $637.60m, respectively. The value of Egyptian imports from Arab countries amounted to $13.1bn, compared to $10.3bn in 2021, an increase of $2.9bn which equates to an increase of almost a third over.

In exports to Egypt, Saudi Arabia also topped the list during the January-September 2022 period, importing $6.4bn worth of goods from the kingdom, followed by Kuwait at $2.4bn, the UAE at $2.2bn and Oman at $625.70m. During the 2021/2022 fiscal year, the value of Arab countries' investments in Egypt reached $8.2bn, a jump of 163.80 per cent compared to $3.1bn in the 2020/2021 course.

The UAE made the largest investment in Egypt in FY21/22 with its investments in the country registering $5.7bn, followed by Kuwait with $669.30m, Qatar with $518.30m, and Saudi Arabia with $491.60m. In FY20/21, the value of remittances from Egyptians working in Arab countries soared by 10.90 per cent to $21.9bn, compared to $19.8bn in the previous fiscal year.

On the other hand, the value of remittances from Arabs working in Egypt decreased by 2.50% in FY20/21 to $114.90m, from $117.80m in FY19/20. Saudi Arabia topped the list of the highest Arab countries in terms of the value of remittances from Egyptians during FY20/21, as the value of workers' remittances registered $11.2bn.

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