Egypt, the world's largest grain importer, is streamlining its import procedures and establishing a registry of companies that will inspect potential purchases abroad, the Trade Ministry said on Friday. An intergovernmental feud over import regulations for wheat effectively cut Egypt off from global markets last year. Upon arrival the grains will be inspected by Egypt's General Organization for Export and Import Control (GOEIC), a Trade Ministry agency. Friday's Trade Ministry decree provided guidelines for a November prime ministerial decree that made GOEIC the new lead authority on grains inspections. Traders say the old import regulations made doing business with Egypt at times nearly impossible, with uncertainty over rejections keeping many of them from entering state tenders.

Source: Egypt Independent January 14, 2017 08:03 UTC