Italy-Egypt, new steps in Parma

The fair Cibus Tech of Parma, the largest exhibition in Europe for food technology - started today and being held until Saturday, 20th of October - marked a new step of the agriculture and agro-industrial cooperation between Italy and Egypt. After the meeting in Cairo of last September, 3, the Egyptian minister of Agriculture Aman Abaza has again met today in Parma his Italian collegue Paolo De Castro. In the Egyptian delegation, also the president of Food industrialists and the Food Export Council Mr Tarek Touffik, who declared in an interview to Green Med Journal that “a programme has been carried out - following to an Italian-Egyptian joint - to implement an international fair for food and fresh products scheduled for 2009. A task-force of two Egyptian experts and two Italian is currently at work and will present the business plan next January”, he explained. Mr Touffik added that the cooperation between Italy and Egypt in the food sector has “great possibilities of development”, and in particular he highlighted that Egypt can again become basin of fresh produce for the European market, as the Country used to be Rome’s granary in ancient times.
Minister De Castro, when the bilateral meeting concluded, underlined a strong collaboration and further development of exchanges for both parts. Minister Abaza confirmed that Egypt can receive not only technologies but also Italian products, being a market of 76 million people. Abaza also added that agro-industry represents a new chapter for Egypt, which is already a strong producer of fresh products. There is a strategic programme based on the fact that today the agro-food sector is already the one in Egypt that is developing at the fastest rate.
At Cibus Tech there are 230 food buyers coming from 27 Countries, and Egypt is this year the “Focus Country”.