Egypt's Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Samir announced that the Export Development Fund, under his ministry, has extended the export subsidy rates for the fiscal year (FY) 2022-2023 to sustain the growth of non-oil exports. As part of the immediate payment initiative for export subsidy, the fund has paid EGP 14.2bn to 1,756 companies for completed files until 31 May 2023. It has also allocated EGP 2.2bn from its budget to clear the exporters' arrears to the fund and settle their debts to various government entities worth EGP 1bn, as well as other dues such as paying for industrial lands to exporters, totaling EGP 156.6m, and supporting exhibitions with EGP 193m. In addition, it has subsidized EgyptAir for air cargo with EGP 383.8m and transferred all the Ministry of Finance's dues from the initiatives, amounting to EGP 458.2m. On the other hand, the ministry has strengthened trade relations with several countries to boost exports. The minister led delegations to visit several countries to discuss enhancing economic cooperation, including Sweden, Russia, and Germany and visited Turkey for the first time in 10 years. Meanwhile, the Egyptian Commercial Service has offered 1,026 export opportunities, the most important of which has an estimated value of $1bn in various sectors. The Egypt Expo & Convention Authority (EECA) has held 32 exhibitions and 8 conferences. It has also issued 56 licences for exhibitions, comprising 49 internal exhibitions, seven external exhibitions, and 5 individual external subscriptions. Furthermore, it has organized 24 external and specialized exhibitions with the participation of many Egyptian productive sectors. It has also conducted seven buyer missions to exhibitions organized by export councils, chambers of commerce, the Federation of Egyptian Industries, and others, which included more than 200 buyers from different countries. On dumping issues, the ministry has completed an investigation into the anti-dumping case against dumped imports of car batteries from or exported by Turkey and achieved a final review of the anti-dumping duties imposed on dumped imports of rebar from China, Turkey, and Ukraine. The Export Development Authority has promoted 315 Egyptian products to 50 Egyptian companies through its electronic portal, and distributed 1,162 direct business opportunities to Egyptian companies registered on its portal. Regarding the trade agreements and foreign trade sector, the ministry has studied 186 topics within the framework of Arab, African, and Euro-Mediterranean rules of origin and has taken the necessary measures to deal with them. It has also worked to solve 70 problems or obstacles related to the rules of origin that faced Egyptian exports. It has researched and studied 86 inquiries or complaints regarding problems facing exporters and importers. Moreover, it has summoned 94 companies for investigation following complaints filed against them and prepared 56 investigation reports for the companies, as well as issued 13 ministerial decrees regarding the export and import of goods and products. It has also studied 4,119 issues identified import violations attributed to each person or company, and prepared memoranda of those violations to take legal action against them. It has also investigated 92 administrative and civil cases filed against the ministry regarding import and export law. It has also prepared a proposal for the certified exporter system to be implemented in Egypt for the first time.
