Egypt, a bridge to Africa

Cooperation between Italy and Egypt came under focus in a conference held in the setting of EIMA International. The commercial strategy envisioned is flanked by research for the development of solutions increasingly adapted to the specific requirements of North African agriculture

Egyptian agriculture has enormous potential and growing mechanization requirements and the country is an important platform for access to the domestic markets in North Africa. This was the issue taken up in a meeting given the title, Egypt: Opportunity and Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of Agricultural Mechanization held on the afternoon of Friday the 14th against the backdrop of EIMA International. The meeting was promoted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the International Center for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies in Bari Chieam and FederUnacoma and brought together Chieam Director General Cosimo Lacirignola, the director of the ministry’s Cooperation Office, Marco Platzer and Isam Wasif, the director of the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research and Land Reclamation Center. What came out of the meeting is that there are substantial opportunities for cooperation between Italy and Egypt because the Italian agricultural and components industry shows great capabilities for adapting their production to the needs on the south side of the Mediterranean where there are crops similar to those in Italy. A system for the management of services associated with mechanization is a prerogative for these Italian enterprises which intend not only to delocalize but create an effective network with local research for setting up innovations in light of climate change considerations as a laboratory of interest for the future of Italy. The adaptability of technologies for the specific needs of Egyptian agriculture thus calls on the role of research which is, it was underscored, the second pillar in the Italian-Egyptian project beside commercial cooperation. In fact, because of its climatic conditions, Egypt is a sort of laboratory for testing technologies, crop systems and mechanization worksites valid for great parts of the North African countries in that developing technologies and systems targeted on the specific requirements of the lands of Africa is a key factor for the Italian industry for effective and lasting cooperation here.