Romania is the most important trade partner for Egypt in the Central and South-Eastern Europe.
Over the past years, the balance of the bilateral trade exchange was favourable to Romania. At the end of last year, the volume of bilateral trade exchange was 266 million dollars, only 5.56 per cent higher than 2004. In 2005, the exports reached 192 million dollars and the imports 73.90 million dollars. In the last nine years, the trade balance was positive, reaching in 2005 118.19 million dollars (in favour of Romania).

In the first five months of 2006, the Romanian exports to the Egyptian market totalled 69.013 million dollars, while the imports of Egyptian products reached 52.075 million dollars. Bilateral trade exchanges were based mainly on tractors, automotive spare parts, equipment, tool and spare parts for the industry of cement and oil field, wood and wooden products, bearings, electrical engines and low tension apparatus, windows and glass products, paper and boards, plastic materials, chemical products, rubber products, synthetic fibres and threads (exported) and oil (until 1997, including into accounts of Romania?s claims in this country), cotton, leather and semi-finished leather products, linen, rice, drugs, detergents and cosmetic products, vegetables and fruits, ceramics, sanitary products, consumer goods (imported). Concerning the investments, according to statistics, 1,314 Romanian-Egyptian mixed companies with an invested capital of approx 12.2 million dollars were registered in 2005 in Romania. In terms of its share, Egypt is placed on the 40th place in the classification of foreign investors in Romania ? a modest position taking into account the volume of bilateral trade exchange and the economic cooperation programmes developed by the two countries.

The economic cooperation between Romania and Egypt mainly focuses on the following areas of mutual interest: the industry of oil, gas, chemistry and petrochemistry, processing and automotive construction industries, power and electricity, transports. Given the evolution of the economic relations registered so far, but not only, the trade exchanges will continue to increase. The two countries have an economic potential which would allow the extension of the range of products and the significant development of the bilateral trade exchanges. Currently, in the context of Romania’s accession to the European Union, the Romanian-Egyptian economic relations need an increased attention and focus of efforts in order to extend the bilateral economic and technical cooperation, especially through the identification and achievement of new industrial projects of mutual interest.

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