CAIRO: Malaysia’s exports to Egypt are expected to increase by 10 per cent this year on strong demand for palm oil in the republic, said Malaysia’s Ambassador to Egypt, Datuk Dr Mohd Fakhrudin Abdul Mukti.

He said the exports of Malaysian palm oil were expected to improve following the Egyptian government’s recently announced subsidies for palm oil in tandem with the high demand.

“We expect our exports to increase with the major contributor to come from palm oil industry,” he told Bernama at the Malaysian Technology Development Corp dinner.

In 2012, Malaysia’s exports to Egypt amounted to RM4 billion while Egypt’s imports to Malaysia during that period totalled to about RM300 million.

Dr Mohd Fakhrudin said palm oil contributed about 80 per cent to the total amount of Malaysian exports to Egypt, followed by furniture industry, electronic products and car parts.

“In order to balance the trade between the two nations, Malaysian companies can boost the import of cotton from Egypt which has been described as one of the best in the world,” he said.

On Proton Holdings Bhd’s plan to team up with an Egyptian company, Dr Mohd Fakhrudin said discussions were still on-going to identify a suitable candidate.

“So far nothing has been confirmed on the potential joint-venture to assembly and sell cars here,” he said.

He said negotiations between Petrolium Nasional Bhd (Petronas) and Egypt Petroleum Co (EPC) to venture into the oil and gas industry in Africa were also on-going.

“We will monitor both potential collaborations closely,” he said.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had on January 23, 2013 said that EPC was keen to collaborate with Petronas to venture into the oil and gas industry in Africa after the meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Hesham Mohamed Qandil here. — Bernama