Swedish Ambassador to Egypt Jan Thesleff told Daily News Egypt that his intention and hope is to double Swedish trade with Egypt in the next five years.
He explained that the trade exchange between Sweden and Egypt is €820m per year, noting that the Swedish investments are much harder to measure because they are done over a number of years, but the best figure he can estimate is that there are about 15,000 Egyptians working at Swedish companies.
Thesleff pointed out that there are big Swedish companies in Egypt, like ABB and Ikea, explaining that these companies are not only investing in companies but are also spurring manufacturing and creating jobs for Egyptians.
Meanwhile, he added that the fields that they are investing in include the power sector through companies like ABB.
“We are investing also in telecommunications and ICT through companies like Ericsson, and also in the retail sector like through Ikea,” he continued.
Furthermore, Thesleff pointed out that there are also new startup companies that are initiated with one Swedish owner and one Egyptian owner.
He gave some examples, like an audiobook company called “Kitab Sawti” which launched an audiobook in Arabic that can be listened to while sitting in a car; a gaming company called FunRock that makes mobile games in Arabic; and a company called Elprices that conducts price comparisons for Egyptian consumers, so they can know where they can buy products at the best possible price through a website.
Daily News Egypt
23/05/2018
