Egyptian exporters have a big chance of tapping African markets and doubling the volume of exports under a free trade agreement that will be signed on June 10, the trade and industry minister has said.

The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East Africa Community (EAC) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will be meeting in Sharm el Sheikh next month to seal the deal.

This agreement will liberalize trade among all 26 member states of the three blocs.

Egypt is seeking to maximize benefits of Egyptian exporters under this agreement, which, Munir Abdel Nour said, will contribute to achieving an economic quantum leap at the regional level.

He said that Egyptian exporters have a very good chance to increase the volume of exports to 5 billion dollars in three years.

In 2013, Egyptian exports to members of the three blocs amounted to 2.7 billion dollars, Abdel Nour said, stressing the need to unify efforts between the government and the private sector to benefit from the free trade agreement.
Source: MENA