Egypt

Last Updated: February 23, 2023

The Arab Republic of Egypt is located at the crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe. Its capital is Cairo, whose metropolitan area is the largest in the Arab world, with 21 million inhabitants. In total, the country has about 107 million inhabitants and is growing by almost two million people every year. With an area of one million square kilometers, Egypt is about three times the size of Germany. However, only about three percent of the land can be used for agriculture. In the fertile Nile Delta, cotton, rice, sugar cane, wheat, vegetables and fruit are the main crops grown.

In 2011, Egypt was one of the centers of political upheaval in the Arab world. In 2014, Abdel Fattah El Sisi was elected president. In recent years, he has drawn attention to the economic situation in Egypt, especially with several mega-projects. A second lane was added to the Suez Canal, construction of a new administrative capital in the desert east of Cairo moved forward, and the idea of using some 6,300 square kilometers of desert land for agriculture was revived. The new administrative capital has been home to the largest Christian cathedral in the Middle East since January 2019.

Egypt was a founding member of the UN and the Arab League in 1945 and is a member of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA). In addition, Egypt is a party to the Agadir Free Trade Agreement with Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan. It has also had an association agreement with the European Union since 2004.

Egypt is the most industrialized country in North Africa. The main products that Egypt exports to Germany are crude oil, food and textiles. Since the late 1990s, Egyptian exports to Germany have increased by 5.95 percent annually. German exports to Egypt mainly include machinery, motor vehicles and motor vehicle parts, and pharmaceutical and electronic products. The tourism sector plays an important role in the Egyptian economy, contributing about four percent of GDP (2019) and employing 3.4 million people directly and indirectly.

The renewable energy sector has been on the upswing since September 2014. Egypt’s topography offers the best conditions for the use of wind and solar energy. A new strategic energy partnership with the EU has been in place since April 2018, which includes technology transfer in the oil and gas sector and is expected to contribute to the increased use of renewable energy. The country also has a number of economically viable raw materials such as iron ore, phosphate, gypsum, gold and marble.