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Cairo, Sep 11 (IANS/EFE) Spain's foreign minister announced here Monday the creation of a Spanish-Egyptian consortium to foster bilateral investment and business activity. "We're going to get a Spanish-Egyptian consortium under way to facilitate Spanish and Egyptian companies, especially the pymes (small and mid-size firms), the development of their activities in the two countries," Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said at a press conference in Cairo. He made his remarks after meeting Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr. Both meetings had a heavy economic content, given that the two nations are studying how to increase bilateral ties, above all in the business arena. "I expect that economic relations between the two countries will increase substantially in the coming years," said Garcia-Margallo, who announced that soon a group of Spanish businesspeople, accompanied by the relevant Cabinet ministers, will visit the Arab nation. In addition, the foreign minister relayed to the Egyptian president an invitation from King Juan Carlos to visit Spain, an offer that was accepted by Morsi. During the meeting, Morsi emphasized the importance that foreign investment has for his country, while Garcia-Margallo discussed with him the situation of Spanish companies in Egypt. Morsi told the minister that the representatives of the Spanish companies would be received by the head of his economic team, Prime Minister Hisham Qandil. At the press conference, Garcia-Margallo emphasized that Spain is maintaining an "active leadership" role in activities that interest Egypt, such as tourism, renewable energy and infrastructure, especially in the railway sector. Amr said that "there exists a consensus to strongly push economic relations". --IANS/EFE rd
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