Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers (UAC) Khaled Hanafi has called for establishing a joint economic zone between Egypt and Greece.
He said the zone would serve the interest of both countries and develop maritime and tourism cooperation.
His remarks were made during a panel discussion, dubbed “Greece - Egypt: Prospects for Cooperation in Shipping, Port Industry and Shipyards.”
It was held via video conference on Friday and organized by the Arab-Greek Chamber of Commerce under the chairmanship of the UAC and the Greek Ministry of Maritime Affairs.
Hanafi said about 80 percent of global trade goes through commercial shipping, and maritime trade flows within the Mediterranean represent about 25 percent of the global traffic volume.
He further noted that the coronavirus outbreak had significant direct and indirect impacts on global shipping in light of the declining demand.
Based on that, he added, the global freight market is expected to witness a drop of 7.5 percent in 2020 after seeing a contraction of 1.7 percent in 2019.
Despite the current difficult circumstances, Egypt’s ports such as Port Said, Damietta, Alexandria as well as Piraeus in Greece managed to remain open for shipping.
“However, the global container shipping volume is expected to decrease by at least 10 percent in 2020.”
Hanafi affirmed that the Egyptian ports are shipping centers not only for the transportation of goods throughout the Greater Mediterranean region but also they represent a link with the remote ports in the Americas as well as in the Far East.
Egypt’s economy, like global economies, has been affected by the measures taken to contain the virus and the sudden halt in tourism, low exports, low transfers and low revenues from the Suez Canal.
But in response to fierce competition, he explained, the Egyptian ports and the Suez Canal Authority reduced ship fees, and the Central Bank of Egypt has eased regulations to withdraw funds for individuals and private companies.
“These restrictions now exclude the transportation and logistics sector from daily cash limits, allowing the flow of basic goods.”
The senior official revealed that Egypt has made significant progress in the emerging market logistics index, due to the numerous structural reforms that the Egyptian government has undertaken, helping stabilize the economy and paving the way for a strong private sector participation.
According to Hanafi, a new generation of startups and businessmen is benefiting nowadays from targeted incentives and the expressed desire on the part of the Egyptian and Arab governments to help small and medium-sized companies thrive.
Accordingly, he added, it is expected that e-commerce in the Middle East will achieve significant growth in the next few years.
