Saudi Arabia is the 2nd largest investor in Egypt, with $6.1 billion poured into 6,017 projects, according to the North African country’s Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir.

The trade minister announced the investment figure during his visit to Riyadh on Dec. 25, where he met Saudi Arabia’s ministers and senior officials to increase bilateral ties between the 2 countries.

According to Samir, Saudi Arabia’s investments in Egypt span across various sectors including industry, construction, tourism, agriculture, services, finance, communications and information technology.

The trade minister also added that trade exchange between Egypt and Saudi Arabia surged 41.3% year-on-year to $4.572 billion in 2021, compared to $3.236 billion in 2020.

Back in August, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched the Saudi Egyptian Investment Company, aimed at investing in promising Egyptian sectors and widening PIF’s investment footprints in Africa.

A statement by the Egyptian ministry noted that Samir had meetings with the Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud and Minister of Trade Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi.

During the meeting, ministers discussed ways to enhance investment cooperation between the 2 countries, and the talks also tackled ways to launch Egyptian-Saudi industrial partnerships in various production domains.

Saudi Arabia is the top exporter among Arab Nations with exports worth $6.4 billion, followed by Kuwait, the UAE and Oman with exports worth $2.4 billion, $2.2 billion and $625.7million respectively, according to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

In November, Saudi Press Agency reported that the Kingdom is exploring investment opportunities in Egypt’s improving real estate landscape following the recent move of the African nation to remove restrictions on foreign ownership of land.

The report further noted that Saudi Arabia’s Real Estate National Committee has met with the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association to discuss potential real estate investments.

Earlier in June, during a meeting of the Egyptian-Saudi Business Council, Al-Qasabi noted that Saudi Arabia and Egypt signed investment agreements worth $7.7 billion under 14 deals.