TTCC Director Praises Sisi as ‘Very Smart Man’

Egypt is Taiwan’s 50th largest trading partner and 43rd largest export destination.

Bilateral trade between the two countries totaled US$507 million in 2020, increasing 10.9% over 2019.

To know more about the nature of bilateral ties between Egypt, and Taiwan, “SEE” managed to conduct an interview with Michael Yeh, Director of the Taiwan Trade Center in Cairo (TTCC).

Here is the full extract of the interview:

• How could you evaluate the economic ties between Taiwan and Egypt amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and what are the challenges facing them?

The level of economic relations between Egypt and Taiwan is still ‘stable’, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

The business between the two countries is mostly focused on machinery and automotive products.

Moreover, Egypt and Taiwan enjoy great cooperation in the Textile sector. Taiwan owns many factories in Egypt; We bring raw materials from our country, to be manufactured in Egypt, then exported to different European countries.

The economic relations between the two countries are facing many challenges, foremost of which COVID-19 pandemic, and the traveling costs which increase two or three times over the past two years, thus, shipping costs increase as well.

Moreover, the exchange rate is among these challenges; Egypt under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi managed smartly to fix exchange rates, but in Taiwan and Aisa’s countries, the currency is linked to the US dollars, when it becomes weak, the prices increase.

• What are the new sectors expected to see cooperation between both countries in the near future?

I have stayed in Egypt for almost two years. The country has witnessed great changes, under the wise leadership of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who is really exerting great efforts.

These changes include the establishment of many new high ways, the Nile river banks which are looking very beautiful nowadays, as well as mega national projects like, New Administrative Capital (NAC), and New Alamein City.

Taiwan has a remarkable experience in smart cities and toll-free collection systems, as it replaced traditional toll stations with an electronic toll collection (ETC) system, which depends mainly on electronic sensors.

Egypt is also implementing the e-stickers system, a matter which paves the way for adopting Taiwan’s ETC system in the future.

Taiwan has also strong experience in Information Technology (IT) field, that can serve Egypt’s smart industries, especially since Egypt is currently implementing 40 new smart cities across the republic.

Moreover, there could be cooperation between Egypt and Taiwan in the bicycles field, especially after President Sisi encouraged the idea of bicycles as a mean of transportation inside the city, and the Egyptian government start dedicating some bicycle roads beside the Nile river.

In addition, Taiwan has more than 20-year experience in bicycles and their managing systems. In Taiwan, Bicycles are used as a part of public transportation, and they have fixed barking areas.

Barking is another area that could see cooperation between two countries, as it is considered a very huge problem in Egypt.

• As you say before, Egypt enjoys many promising Economic growth opportunities, How can we benefit from this to boost bilateral ties between both countries?

Egypt is doing business with the global world not only Taiwan, thanks to its distinguished location on the Meditteranean sea and Africa. We can benefit from Egypt’s location as a gate to the African and European countries.

Egypt is also characterized by a competitive labor cost as well as low electricity and land prices.

Yet, the main challenges facing the bilateral ties between Egypt and Taiwan are the language and the traveling distance, which is credibly far.

Moreover, President Sisi is adopting a new policy, by the next year, Egypt will not allow the entry of any goods unless they are in line with European standards. Thus, this will encourage many foreign investors to depend on Egypt as a production base.

Sisi is a very smart man, he is trying to make good use of everything to improve the business environment in Egypt. The Egyptian government is moving on the right path.

• Could you tell us more about the volume of trade exchange and investments between Egypt, and Taiwan?

 The bilateral trade between Egypt and Taiwan reached US$507 million in 2020, increasing 10.9% over 2019. Of this figure, Egypt exports to Taiwan accounted for US$125 million, up by 92.81% compared to 2019, while Taiwanese exports to Egypt accounted for US$382 million, a decrease of 2.6% year-on-year.

Lately, Taiwan has also strat to import agriculture as well as gas and petroleum products from Egypt.

Concerning investments, there are no official investment agreements between both countries.

Is there any cooperation between Egypt, and Taiwan in the smart cities field?

Negotiations are currently underway between both governments, but no actual steps have been taken so far.