Egypt and Turkey to bolster ties in transport sector

Egypt is working to boost its maritime, land, rail, and air transport cooperation with Turkey to provide a mutual economic boost, according to Asharq Al-Aswat on June 29th.

The objective of this heightened cooperation is to establish efficient trade and navigation routes that link Asia, Africa, and Europe which will enable the movement of goods and people.

Kamel El-Wazir, who is Egypt’s Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and the Industry and Transport minister, outlined on June 28th that development across Africa can be greatly enhanced by Egyptian-Turkish cooperation.

“This can be achieved via joint projects such as port development, the establishment of cross-border railway lines and the launch of new logistics corridors to boost intra-African trade and open new markets for the continent’s products,” Wazir stated.

He also said: “Egypt is working to realize a leap in its transportation sector through a national strategy aiming to have smart and sustainable transport, boost infrastructure, and promote regional-international connectivity.” He made these remarks while speaking at the 2025 Global Connectivity in Transport Forum, taking place in Istanbul.

Egypt is considered Turkey’s top African trading partner, with the Turkish ambassador to Egypt, Salih Mutlu Sen, revealing that Turkish direct investment into Egypt has hit $500 million in 2025.

Adel El-Lami, who is the head of the Egyptian-Turkish Business Council, highlighted that strategic bilateral cooperation between the two nations has gained significantly more momentum than it had before 2013. Over 180,000 direct and indirect job opportunities have been created due to the rise in Turkish investments in a number of fields in Egypt.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Aswat, El-Lami said that one important element of the cooperation is the implementation of strategic maritime partnerships which facilitate more containers transiting through the Suez Canal on shipping lines that connect both countries.

Bilateral cooperation also aims to augment agreements in many sectors at both the governmental and private levels.

“Both countries need to work on removing remaining barriers to trade to further enhance economic cooperation,” El-Lami said.

Ankara and Cairo signed numerous agreements to consolidate commercial relations and cooperation across many sectors in September of 2024, when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi visited Turkey.

Professor Mohammed Ali Ibrahim, Director of the School of Transportation and Logistics at the University of Istanbul, stated that “there are multiple areas of partnership in the field of maritime transportation between Egypt and Turkey.”

He told Asharq Al-Aswat that the boost in cooperation provides Egypt with the opportunity to become a “transit” for Turkish trade in African markets.

He said that “this lines with the Egyptian plan to transform the country into a regional export hub.”

Asharq Al-Aswat