Egypt–Germany relations


Egypt–Germany relations refers to the foreign relations between Egypt and Germany. The diplomatic relations between Egypt and Germany began in December 1957.

History

In December, 1953, the diplomatic relations between Egypt and Germany started the first technical cooperation projects including the projects of professional habilitation, laying studies of the crude iron and other metallic prospections.

Diplomatic missions

Egypt has an embassy in Berlin, as well as consulates in Frankfurt and Hamburg. Germany has an embassy in Cairo and a consulate in Alexandria.

Economic

Egypt ranked third among the Arab countries trading with Germany. The German exports to Egypt totalled 2.1 billion euro in 2007. Whilst exports to Germany totalled 804 million euro.
The German investments in Egypt are concentrated in the fields of small and medium-scale industries, information technology, car assembling, energy and land reclamation. In July 2005, Egypt and Germany signed an agreement on encouraging and protecting investments.

Tourism

Egypt is one of the most important destinations for German tourists. In 2007, German visitors to Egypt numbered over one million, making Germans the second-largest group of tourists after the Russians. The Egyptian Government reports continuing growth of German tourists and estimates the possibility of reaching high levels of German tourists' inflow to hit 1.2 million.
German airline Lufthansa is one of the oldest foreign airlines to operate flights from Europe to Egypt. The airline has said "These flights are serving businessmen and tourists, thus making Lufthansa a key tool boosting the bilateral economic ties between Egypt and Germany". In addition, the airline now has code-share arrangements with EgyptAir boosting travel between the nations.

Cultural

In 1873 the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule was established in Cairo.
The Egyptian–German cultural agreement, signed in 1959, is the major framework which organizes Egyptian–German cultural relations. Egypt and Germany also signed two agreements in 1979 and 1981 on scientific and cultural cooperation between the two countries.
Egyptian–German cultural cooperation is characterized in the following: