Egypt aims to double non-oil exports in four years

Egypt aims to double non-oil and gas exports to 200 billion Egyptian pounds ($36 billion) from 95 billion pounds in four years in a bid to create more jobs, the trade minister said on Wednesday. Egypt, the Arab world's most populous nation with about 77 million people, is battling to drag about one fifth of its people out of dire poverty. It put unemployment at 9.4 percent in May.
"We have presented a plan by the Ministry of Trade and Industry to double, once more, our exports of non-oil and gas products from 95 to 200 billion (pounds) in the next four years," Trade Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid said. "That in itself will create a potential for 60 billion pounds worth of investment and generation of 200,000 jobs," he told reporters on the sidelines of an economic conference in Cairo. Egypt, a modest oil and gas producer, relies heavily on tourism, Suez Canal receipts and remittances from its workers abroad.