On the occasion of the visit of H.E. Demetris Christofias, President of the Republic of Cyprus, CEEBA had the pleasure to host on the 7th of April 2009 together with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Tourism of Cyprus in cooperation with the Cyprus Chamber of commerce the Cypriot – Egyptian business forum: “An international Financial and Business Centre”. The Business Forum featured top speakers giving presentations on the bilateral cooperation & explaining different elements of each country’s trade policy.

President Christofias who was paying a 3 day official visit to Egypt, stressed his country’s commitment to support the bilateral cooperation and that Egypt could rely on Cyprus especially as regards the EU-Egypt relations.

Both countries, he pointed out, are committed “to continue deepening their friendship and their cooperation in all fields, to continue deepening their exchanges, trade economic and tourism exchanges”.

Furthermore H.E. the President referred to three bilateral agreements signed Tuesday in Cairo, as well as the “very important agreements” signed last year on research for oil & gas in the region expressing certainty that the 2 governments create a very stable fundament for the business community to further promote their cooperation
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Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid explained the Egyptian point of view on the trade relations between Egypt and Cyprus. He stated that there are many areas and opportunities to expand economic relations between the two countries since Cyprus can be seen as a gateway for the entry of Egyptian commodities to European countries as well as Egypt can be considered the gate for Cypriot products to African markets.

The Cypriot president was accompanied by a delegation of Cypriot officials and businessmen including H.E. Mr. Charilaos Stavrakis – Cypriot Minister of Finance, H.E. Mr. Antonis Paschalides – Cypriot Minister of Commerce, Industry & Tourism, Mr. Christodoulos Angastiniotis –President of the Nicosia Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Mr. Sotiris Sotiriou, General Director of the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency. Representing the European Delegation was H.E. Dr. Klaus Ebermann – Ambassador of the European Union and Head of the EC Delegation in Egypt. H.E. Sameh Fahmy – Egyptian Minister of Petroleum was also present among a no. of Egyptian Businessmen as Mr. Mahmoud El Masry – President of the Federation of the Egyptian Chambers of Commerce. The CEEBA Board was represented by Mr. Sherif Abdel Latif- CEEBA Chairman, Mrs. Hosna Rachid – Chairperson of CEEBA Alexandria, Mr. Mahmoud El Kaissy – President of CEEBA Upper Egypt and Red Sea and Dr. Alaa Ezz – Secretary General of CEEBA.