In the presence of the president and members of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce, the Egyptian Customs Authority, the Customs Guards at the Salloum port on the Egyptian side of the border, the heads of the Libyan Chambers of Commerce, members of the joint Libyan-Egyptian Economic Chamber, and with the participation of the Libyan consul in Alexandria, a meeting was held in Alexandria to coordinate efforts to increase the volume of trade and develop the necessary solutions to facilitate better movement of transit between the two countries and the flow of goods.
Commenting exclusively to Libya Herald about the meeting, the head of the Benghazi Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Saleh Al-Obeidi, said his chamber’s meeting with its Alexandria counterpart was not the first and will not be the last with the chambers of commerce in all Egyptian cities, as it had been preceded by a meeting with the Giza Chamber during the Libyan-Egyptian Economic Forum at the beginning of this year.
Complementing recommendations of Forum
He said this meeting comes as a complement to the recommendations of the forum to intensify efforts to increase the volume of trade exchange between the two countries, and that is only by facilitating procedures related to trade and investment in the two countries, as well as facilitating procedures for the transfer of goods and labour, transit trade and free zones.
Libya largest African importer of Egyptian goods in Q1 2023
Al-Obeidi confirmed that the volume of goods supplied from Egypt to Libya, especially agricultural products, foodstuffs, some types of medicines and industrial equipment, amounts to nearly US$ 100 million per month, as Libya is the largest African importer of Egyptian goods during the first quarter of 2023.
Egyptian exports expected to exceed US$ 1 billion by end of 2023
He said the latest report issued by the Egyptian General Authority for Export and Import Control listed Libya receiving Egyptian exports worth US$ 317 million during only the first quarter of this year, and Al-Obaid expected that Egyptian exports to Libya would exceed more than one billion dollars by the end of December 2023.
Al-Obaidi indicated the readiness of the Egyptian side, represented by the chambers of commerce and sector companies, to cooperate with the Libyan chambers of commerce in many fields, especially the contracting, building and construction sector within the reconstruction projects in Libya.
Alexandria discussed real problems at border crossing
For his part, the head of the Libyan side in the Libyan-Egyptian Economic Chamber, Musbah Al-Amrouni, said to the Libya Herald, “We focused during the meeting with the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce on developing effective and quick solutions to solve the problems of merchants, agents and distributors and presenting them to the Egyptian Customs Authority. These included delayed entry of cargo trucks from Egypt to Libya, which are left waiting on the Egyptian side of the border for days, as well as the frequent overcrowding that causes the accumulation of goods and merchandise in a large way, which means that they are subject to damage and the losses to merchants.
Proposed solutions to speed up border crossing
Al-Amrouni stressed the understanding of the Egyptian customs authorities of the obstacles that limit the flow of goods, services and citizens between the two countries, and their keenness to develop appropriate solutions.
In this spirit, it was proposed that working hours at the Salloum-Musaid crossing be increased, in agreement with the Libyan side, making Friday afternoon a regular workday to ease the congestion on merchants. It was also proposed that containers loaded with goods would be inspected inside factories and guarded under seal by customs guards through the respective borders.
