Editor’s Note: The following are excerpts from an interview with Yasser Atef, ambassador of Egypt in Ukraine.
KP: What are the economic ties between Ukraine and Egypt?
YA: Egypt is among top three trade partners of Ukraine in the Middle East. In 2008, our bilateral trade made up $1.7 billion. The number went down in 2009, to $1.1billion, due to the internationaleconomic crisis. But in 2010 we have overcome the stagnation. Egypt’s exports to Ukraine in the first five months of 2010 are equal to the total volume of our exports to Ukraine in 2009.
KP: How about Egypt’s investment to Ukraine?
YA: Egypt’s investment in Ukraine is still scarce. In the last few years, Egyptian investors have come to Eastern Europe. They established factories and do business. But our businessmen still don’t see economic stability in Ukraine. They are turned off by the bureaucratic procedures. For example, it takes 439 days to obtain a construction permit herem which is too long. Construction, tourism, hotels can be of interest to the Egyptian investors.
KP: What are the big projects taking place on the governmental level?
YA: There are no big projects going on right now. A few years ago, Ukraine helped us launch EGYSAT 1 data gathering satellite. The whole project was carried out in cooperation between our two countries with training of stuff taking place in Ukraine. Launching and managing of EGYSAT 1 was also done together. On the Ukrainian side, you have the oil and gas exploration project currently carried out byNaftogaz and it is an investmentof around $60 million.
KP: What does the Egyptian community do in Ukraine?
YA: We are not very numerous. A few thousand Egyptian citizens come to study in Ukraine. Their number has increased. The students spread throughout the country, going to Kharkiv, Lviv and Vinnytsia. Many come to obtain a Ph.D. here.
We also have a group of businessmen who have been working in an import-export business in Odesa for many years. They got married with the local ladies, settled down and some even acquired the Ukrainian citizenship.
KP: What misconceptions exist in Egypt about Ukraine?
YA: Egyptians often say that three million Russian tourists come to Egypt, but it’s only two million Russians and the rest come fromother countries of the former Soviet Union, especially Ukraine, which sends around half a million tourist to Egypt each year.
We still have goodmemories of Ukrainians as a part of the former Soviet Union as experts who helped us build the Aswan dam and also our steel mills in the 1960s. The dam generated electricity and saved thousands ofacres of farmland, which provideda means of livelihood for our peasants and [prevented] catastrophic floods.
KP: What misconceptions about Egypt did you come across in Ukraine?
YA: It struck me that when I meet people and introduce myself they respond with a phrase: “Oh, yes, of course, we love Sharm El Sheikh.” Sharm El Sheikh is indeed a beautiful resort, but it doesn’t represent what Egypt is all about. We also have Cairo, Alexandria, upper Egypt, where you can find fantastic Pharaonic archaeology.
Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Grushchenko can be reached at [email protected]
