As a follow-up of the arrangements between the Presidents of Ukraine and Egypt, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba had a telephone conversation with Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry.

The parties noted the significant progress made in recent years in the political sphere and discussed concrete next steps for the exchange of visits at the high and highest levels.

Dmytro Kuleba stressed the importance of ensuring the upward dynamics of bilateral relations and invited his Egyptian counterpart to pay an official visit to our country after the improvement of the epidemiological situation.

The Ministers also discussed joint efforts to diversify trade, economic, investment, tourism and humanitarian cooperation.

"We aim to significantly increase the volume of bilateral trade, which last year amounted to more than USA 2.6 billion dollars. To this end, we have offered the Egyptian side a new format of economic cooperation, namely to consider the possibility of concluding a bilateral preferential trade agreement, "- said Dmytro Kuleba.

The Foreign Ministers also spoke about the current state of the bilateral treaty and legal basis and agreed to promote its expansion.

For reference: Egypt is a key economic partner of Ukraine on the African continent. The total volume of trade in goods and services between Ukraine and Egypt in 2019 amounted to 2.631 billion dollars. USA, for 5 months of this year, this figure exceeded 1 billion dollars. USA.

In 2019, Egypt was visited by 1.49 million Ukrainian tourists. According to this indicator, Ukraine took second place after Germany.