CAIRO, July 3 (KUNA) -- Visiting Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi said here Thursday Libya would boost its investments in Egypt up to USD 10 billion within a couple of years' time.
The Libyan premier was speaking to reporters following a meeting between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his visiting Libyan counterpart Muammar Gaddafi.
A strategic agreement was reached between both sides during the meeting on further promoting and bolstering bilateral cooperation by means of carrying out several joint ventures and boosting Libyan investments in Egypt, he said.
Egypt will provide a set of facilities to Libyan investors, particularly in the agricultural domain, he said, adding that agreement was reached on linking Egypt and Libya through a group of infrastructure projects in order to spur and encourage two-way trade, especially in the area of roads and air, sea and overland transport and a natural gas pipeline.
A joint oil refinery will be set up in west Alexandria in Egypt with Libyan financing. It will be used in refining Libyan oil, he added.
They also agreed to enter joint food security ventures in Africa, mainly Sudan, Uganda and others where water is available for growing such cereals as wheat, barely and rice, the Libyan premier noted.
Egypt and Libya vowed to remove trade restrictions and to increase trade exchange, al-Mahmoudi said.
An integrated Libyan city is to be established in Egypt soon, he said.
He hailed strategic agreements clinched between both sides earlier in the day as a launching point for bilateral economic, trade and investment integration.
He estimated the current Libyan investments in Egypt at roughly two billion US dollars, predicting the figure to skyrocket up to USD 10 billion within a couple of years. (pickup previous) sm.ez.mt KUNA 032040 Jul 08NNNN