Arab Finance: Merchandise trade between Egypt and the Czech Republic reached around $800 million in 2025, rising by more than 25% from the previous year, Egyptian Minister of Industry Khaled Hashem said.
Hashem announced the figures as he participated in the Czech Republic’s National Day celebrations on behalf of Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, attended by Czech Ambassador to Egypt Jakub Slosarek along with other ambassadors and Egyptian and foreign government officials.
The minister highlighted opportunities to expand bilateral investment, pointing to industrial facilities established by Czech companies in Egypt and Egyptian investments in the Czech Republic, particularly in manufacturing and research and development. These investments provide a basis for extending cooperation beyond trade in finished goods to joint manufacturing, technological development, and participation in regional and global value chains.
Hashem also referred to the second session of the Egyptian-Czech Joint Economic Committee, held in Prague in July 2025, as an important step in strengthening the economic partnership, identifying opportunities, and bringing the two countries’ business communities closer together. A business forum held alongside the meetings brought representatives of around 40 Czech companies with Egyptian counterparts, reflecting their interest in expanding trade and investment.
Industrial development remains a leading economic priority for Egypt, Hashem said. The Ministry of Industry is pursuing a strategy to build an integrated industrial base, increase production and exports, deepen local manufacturing, and attract advanced technology investments that generate greater added value. Expanding private-sector participation and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises are central to that strategy.
He cited Egypt’s geographic location, skilled workforce, advanced infrastructure, equipped industrial zones, and extensive trade agreements as advantages for companies seeking to establish manufacturing operations. These factors offer access to markets serving more than 1.5 billion consumers across Africa, the Middle East, and Europe.
Against that backdrop, Hashem identified opportunities to draw on the Czech Republic’s industrial and technological capabilities in industrial machinery, automotive components, electrical equipment, transport technologies, and water management. He also highlighted renewable energy, energy efficiency, and industrial decarbonization as promising areas for cooperation.
Such collaboration could help Egyptian manufacturers improve productivity and meet international standards, he noted. Combining Czech engineering and technological expertise with Egypt’s manufacturing capacity and access to regional markets could support new industrial partnerships, expand production, create jobs, and strengthen the competitiveness of both economies.
The minister placed those opportunities within a relationship spanning more than a century, with diplomatic ties dating to 1922, adding that mutual respect has underpinned the partnership’s development and the expansion of economic, commercial, and industrial cooperation over the decades.
Those ties also extend to archaeology, tourism, education, and culture. Hashem pointed to longstanding Czech archaeological research in Egypt, particularly at Abusir, and growing exchanges in the other fields as evidence of the connections between the two peoples.
