Egyptians, Gazans move to strengthen economic ties
During the Ain Sokhna conference in Egypt, Palestinian businessmen put forth the decade-old idea of a free trade zone between both parties, in a bid to ease the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
AIN SOKHNA, Egypt — Egypt invited businessmen and economists from the Gaza Strip to attend the second meeting of the Ain Sokhna conference in the Ain Sokhna Red Sea resort on Nov. 7-9 to discuss the Palestinian cause and the blockade imposed by Israel. Palestinian businessmen saw this invitation as a positive sign of Egypt’s openness to build commercial ties with Gaza, particularly since one of the most important topics discussed at the conference was reviving the project of the free industrial trade zone between Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The first meeting in Ain Sokhna had taken place Oct. 16-18.
The chairman of the Palestinian Businessmen Association in the Gaza Strip, Ali al-Hayek, who participated in the conference organized by the National Center for Middle East Studies in Egypt, told Al-Monitor that over 30 businessmen and economists from Gaza received invitations to discuss the Israeli blockade that prevents various commodities and raw materials from entering Gaza, thus preventing the reconstruction of Gaza.
He said, “We came to the conference to talk about Gaza’s economic problems. The solution would be through a trade exchange between us and Egypt. We would like to have Egyptian raw materials and products to replace the Israeli products whose entry into Gaza is limited by Israel.”
