The head of the Palestinian Contractors Syndicate in Gaza, Osama Kahil, announced today, Saturday, Palestinian and Egyptian efforts to develop trade exchange in the coming months.
Kahil told reporters in Gaza that efforts are still continuing to develop exchange in various commercial fields, noting that a delegation from the Palestinian private sector, including businessmen, investors and traders, will hold talks with their Egyptian counterparts next week in this regard.
A delegation of government institutions in Gaza, and representatives of the private sector, visited Egypt last June, where they discussed the file of the reconstruction of Gaza and the removal of the ruins of buildings that were destroyed during the military operation launched by Israel in the Strip, last May.
To speed up the reconstruction efforts, Egypt sent huge engineering equipment and crews to the Gaza Strip at the beginning of last June.
The equipment, which includes a large number of trucks, bulldozers and cranes, is being used to clear the rubble of buildings that were destroyed during the last 11-day round of tension.
The aid came after President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi pledged to contribute $500 million to help rebuild Gaza with the participation of Egyptian companies.
According to the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, 1,200 housing units were completely destroyed as a result of the recent wave of tension, in addition to about 1,000 uninhabitable units, and 40,000 partially and moderately damaged, while the cost of the reconstruction of housing units is about $165 million.
Egypt sponsored a ceasefire agreement to end the latest wave of escalation in the Gaza Strip from May 10 to 21, which resulted in the death of more than 250 Palestinians in exchange for the killing of 13 people in Israel, as well as extensive destruction of buildings, residential homes and infrastructure in Gaza.
