In his interview to al-Ahram Newspaper, Ukrainian Ambassador to Egypt Yevhen Mykytenko stressed that the bilateral relations between Egypt and Ukraine have witnessed remarkable development and improvement over the past two years, which is due to the distinguished relations between President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Key points of the interview:

- Ukraine is interested in expanding parliamentary cooperation between the two countries. In July 2020, a friendship group with Egypt was formed in the Ukrainian parliament

- Trade and economic cooperation is one of the most successful areas of interaction between the two countries. Egypt is the Kyiv’s first trade partner in Africa and the Arab World. Ukraine is ready to continue to play an important role in supporting Egyptian food security. Ukrainian companies are ready to increase the supply of food products, as well as to ensure their uninterrupted supply.

- Despite the current successes, the two countries have great potential to expand trade and economic cooperation. There is a proposal from the Ukrainian side to start negotiations on trade liberalization and the conclusion of a preferential trade agreement, which will not only enhance bilateral trade, but also encourage investment cooperation.

- The total trade in goods and services between Ukraine and Egypt in 2020 amounted to about 1.8 billion US dollars. During the period from January to August 2021, the volume of trade exchange between Ukraine and Egypt amounted to one billion US dollars.

- Great prospects for bilateral cooperation with Egypt in the field of information technology. The two sides discussed this in detail during the talks in Cairo last August between the Ukrainian diplomatic mission and Ambassador Badr Abdel-Aty, Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, and high-ranking representatives of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in Egypt.

- On regional coordination and cooperation between the two countries, Yevhen Mykytenko expressed his enthusiasm for establishing friendly relations between the governorates in Ukraine and Egypt.

- Ukrainians make up the majority of foreign tourists in Egypt, as Ukraine ranks first in terms of the number of tourists who visit Egyptian resorts (the number of Ukrainian tourists in Egypt this year reached one million).

- The ambassador thanked President El-Sisi and the Egyptian Government for their round-the-clock support for Ukrainian tourists, especially for the recent introduction of the Ukrainian-language hotline service to provide instructions to Ukrainians staying in Egypt.

https://gate.ahram.org.eg/daily/News/829574.aspx