Turkish and Egyptian trade chambers unions have signed an agreement to set up a joint trade chamber to boost business between the two countries, as reported by the Turkish agency, Anadolu Ajans.

The agreement was signed on Saturday by Rifat Hisarciklioglu, chairman of the Union of Turkish Chambers & Commodity Exchanges (TOBB) and Ahmed al-Wakil, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, in Istanbul on Saturday in a ceremony also participated by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohammed Rachid.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hisarciklioglu said the cooperation between Turkey and Egypt would make important contributions to the stability and economic development in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Hisarciklioglu said trade volume between the two countries had reached over three billion U.S. dollars from 320 million USD in 2004 after a free trade agreement was signed.

“We will continue to work to boost that figure even further. Our goal is to achieve 10 billion USD,” Hisarciklioglu said.

Hisarciklioglu said he expected Egypt to join in a free trade zone planned to be established between Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.

“The joining of Egypt in this project would make the Eastern Mediterranean a wide free trade zone,” he said.

Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohammed Rachid said on his part that the trade volume between the two countries had increased 10 times over the last five years, adding that the establishment of joint trade chamber would make a significant contribution to economic cooperation.

Ahmed al-Wakil, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, said over 200 Turkish companies had made investments in Egypt, which offered jobs to some 40 thousand people.