Egypt and the UK are reportedly in “early talks” over a post-Brexit trade agreement, government sources told the domestic press yesterday. The agreement is necessary as the UK looks set to abandon a trade pact that saw Egypt and the European Union cut tariffs, quotas and barriers to the sale of agricultural products and manufactured goods. It’s anyone’s guess what the final shape of an agreement would look like, according to Gamal Bayoumi, a veteran trade watcher and Secretary-General of the Egyptian-European Association. The UK is apparently looking to negotiate terms similar to those in the EU-Egypt Association Agreement, while Egypt will push to increase exports under the new pact, the report says.

UK looking to preserve market access: UK Minister of Investment Graham Stuart told us exclusively in May that his government is working hard to ensure Brexit doesn’t affect Britain’s standing trade agreements. The country, the largest non-Arab investor in Egypt, is set to formally leave the EU in March 2019

The potential: Egypt’s total trade relationship with the UK was worth USD 3.9 bn in FY 201718, with Egyptian exports to Britain accounting for USD 1.7 bn of that total. Trade with the UK accounts for roughly 4.3% of Egypt’s global trade balance.