Egypt hopes to strengthen its partnerships with Türkiye across maritime, land, rail, and air transport to establish efficient trade and navigation corridors linking Asia, Africa, and Europe, thereby facilitating the movement of goods and people.
Egyptian Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Industry and Transport Minister, Kamel el Wazir, affirmed on Saturday that Egyptian-Turkish cooperation can play a pivotal role in advancing development across Africa.
“This can be achieved via joint projects such as port development, the establishment of cross-border railway lines and the launch of new logistics corridors to boost intra-African trade and open new markets for the continent’s products,” Wazir said.
Speaking at the 2025 Global Connectivity in Transport Forum held in Istanbul, the Minister said, “Egypt is working to realize a leap in its transportation sector through a national strategy aiming to have smart and sustainable transport, boost infrastructure, and promote regional-international connectivity.”
Egypt is considered Türkiye’s number one trading partner in Africa. Turkish Ambassador to Egypt Salih Mutlu Sen earlier said the volume of new Turkish investments in the Egyptian market reached $500 million this year.
Head of the Egyptian-Turkish Business Council Adel el-Lami said strategic relations between both countries are moving at a stronger pace than they were before 2013 with the increase of Turkish investments in various fields in Egypt, offering more than 180,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
El-Lami told Asharq Al-Awsat that part of the cooperation mechanisms is related to the implementation of strategic partnerships in maritime transport through increasing the number of containers on shipping lines that connect the two countries and pass through the Suez Canal.
Also, cooperation between both countries is linked to enhancing agreements in several sectors at the governmental and private levels.
“Both countries need to work on removing remaining barriers to trade to further enhance economic cooperation,” he said.
During the visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Türkiye last September, the two countries signed several agreements to boost commercial ties and cooperate on several sectors.
“There are multiple areas of partnership in the field of maritime transportation between Egypt and Türkiye,” said Professor Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, Director of the School of Transportation and Logistics at the University of Istanbul.
Ibrahim told Asharq Al-Awsat that Egypt can gradually transform into a “transit” for Turkish trade heading to the African market.
“This lines with the Egyptian plan to transform the country into a regional export hub,” he said.
