Turkey to grant Egyptian entrepreneurs 5-year entry visas

Egyptian enterpreneurs will now be granted five-year entry visas to Turkey in an effort to bolster trade exchanges between the two countries, state daily Al-Ahram reported on Monday, citing Turkish Ambassador to Cairo Hussein Awny. Previously, business visas to Turkey had only been issued for one-year periods, according to Al-Ahram. Earlier this month, Mostafa Mekawy, head of Egypt's commercial service office in Turkey, announced that bilateral trade volumes had reached some $3 billion in the first half of this year. Mekawy added that total Turkish investments in Egypt – including 415 projects in the textiles, garments, processed food, industry and mining sectors – currently stood at some $1.5 billion. During President Mohamed Morsi's visit to Ankara last month, Turkey agreed to grant Egypt $1 billion as part of a total $2 billion Turkish aid package to Cairo. From: Ahram Online