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RIYADH: The Gulf‑Egypt Trade and Investment Forum 2025 launched in Cairo on Nov. 10 under the theme “Roadmap towards enhancing Egyptian‑Gulf economic cooperation.”  

The event saw participation from Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Saudi Minister of Commerce Majid Al‑Qasabi, Secretary‑General of the Gulf Cooperation Council Jassem Al-Budaiwi, Saudi Assistant Minister of Investment Abdullah Al‑Dubaikhi, the Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Saleh Al‑Husseini, as well as a number of ministers and officials from the GCC states and Egypt. 

In his speech at the forum, Al‑Qasabi stated: “The world today is facing accelerating economic challenges, which obliges us to unify efforts and work jointly to formulate an integrated economic roadmap that contributes to facilitating investment flows and launching quality joint projects in various sectors, most importantly energy, tourism, technology, and creative industries.” 

He added that “the success of Gulf‑Egyptian integration not only contributes to the growth of our economies, but it embeds the status of our region as an influential international investment power.” 

Al‑Qasabi also affirmed that “the Saudi‑Egyptian relations represent a solid model of brotherhood and strategic partnership extended over decades, supported by shared political will.”  

He emphasized that what distinguishes this partnership today “is the integration between the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and Egypt’s Vision 2030, which are two ambitious Arab visions seeking to achieve comprehensive and sustainable development.” 

He explained that the bilateral efforts have resulted in “noticeable growth in the volume of trade exchange, and the value of trade exchange between the Kingdom and Egypt in 2024 exceeded $16 billion, achieving growth of 28 percent compared to the previous year, while the volume of trade exchange between the two countries over the past five years amounted to about $72 billion.” 

Al‑Qasabi pointed out that “10,198 Egyptian companies are operating today in the Kingdom in various sectors, foremost among them construction and building companies with 4,786 registrations, and more than 1.6 million Egyptian brothers are participating in the development journey in their second country the Kingdom, and these numbers clearly reflect the depth of the shared economic interests and the growing strength of the investment ties between the two countries.” 

He noted that the cooperation “is not limited to the bilateral relations, but also includes the cooperation between Egypt and the GCC states, which are the first global trade partner for Egypt, with a trade exchange volume that exceeded $25 billion in 2024, achieving growth of 17 percent over 2023.”  

He pointed out that increasing investment attraction and developing partnerships require “a business environment characterized by clarity and transparency, so the faster and more transparent the procedures, the greater the investment attraction and the more partnerships grow sustainably.” 

He further affirmed that the Kingdom has “achieved qualitative leaps in improving the business environment, thanks to the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister – may God protect him – through the Saudi Business Centre and the National Competitiveness Centre, and more than 900 qualitative reforms in systems, services and procedures have been implemented, and the World Bank selected the Kingdom as a knowledge‐centre in the field of economic reforms as a pioneering model to be emulated in the path of economic transformation, based on its experience over the past seven years.” 

He said: “The Crown Prince – may God protect him – directed me to harness all capabilities to share the Saudi experience in these fields, in a way that strengthens cooperation and achieves mutual benefit for the two brotherly countries.” 

The forum, organized by Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the GCC Secretariat‑General, in cooperation with Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade, aims over two days to enhance trade and joint investments between Egypt and the GCC states, and to launch new economic partnerships that contribute to supporting Arab economic integration. 

The forum’s agenda includes sessions addressing the prospects of trade and investment relations between the two sides, means of developing the real‑estate and tourism sectors, as well as investing in the fields of renewable energy, food security and finance.  

The first day’s sessions included: “Prospects of trade and investment relations between Egypt and the GCC states,” followed by “Economic reforms and investment opportunities in Egypt and success stories of Gulf investors,” then “Prospects for real‑estate development and tourism,” followed by “Investment in clean and renewable energy,” then “Mechanisms and fields for enhancing food security,” and concluding with “Sources and mechanisms of financing.”