Egypt’s exports of the ready-made garments to the United States are maintaining a steady pace over the last nine months of 2013, said the chief of the Egyptian Ready-Made Garments Export Council on Tuesday.
Mohamed Kassem – Chairman of the Egyptian Ready-Made Garments Export Council – told Amwal Al Ghad that the volume of Egypt’s exports of the ready-made garments to the USA hit US$ 750 million by the end of last September, fell by only 1% from a year before.
Kassem described the 1% decline as normal owing to the slowdown in world demand as well as the recent political developments in Egypt which have affected the Egyptian exports in general, explaining that what has been achieved so far is a good result when compared to the country’s current situation.
Russian Ally
On the growing rapprochement between Egypt and Russia and its impact on the Egyptian-US relations, Kassem has cited a deliberate media exaggeration over the Russian officials’ recent visit to Cairo. He has referred to the difficulty of attaining economic benefits from the rapprochement between Cairo and Moscow, noting that the Russian market is not suitable for the Egyptian exports. Therefore, he asserted that decision markers in Egypt have to cement ties with all the international powers, instead of getting involved in certain economic or political alliances.
Moreover, Kassem has warned that Egypt would be in the midst of the US-Russia Cold War, adding that it does not make any sense to mix world countries’ political position on Egypt with making businesses.
The US-Russian relationship has been recently characterized by competition rather than hostility, and that would fail Egypt’s mission in search for an alternative to the US ally through getting closer to Russia, he elaborated.
Kassem concluded by saying that the Russian market is one of the major markets that are based on energy production and export. Russia can be a good market for the Egyptian exports of food and agricultural products, like it used to be previously.
