Turkish and Egyptian trade chamber unions signed an agreement here to set up a joint trade chamber to boost business between the two countries, local media reported Saturday.

The agreement was signed by Rifat Hisarciklioglu, chairman of the Union of Turkish Chambers and Commodity Exchanges and Ahmed al- Wakil, head of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hisarciklioglu said the cooperation between Turkey and Egypt would make important contributions to the stability and economic development in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Trade volume between the two countries had reached over 3 billion U.S. dollars, jumping from 320 million dollars in 2004, after a free trade agreement was signed, Hisarciklioglu said, adding that "we will continue to work to boost that figure even further. Our goal is to achieve 10 billion dollars."

Hisarciklioglu said that he expected Egypt to join in a free trade zone planned to be established between Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. "The joining of Egypt in this project would make the Eastern Mediterranean a wide free trade zone," he said.

Over 200 Turkish companies had made investments in Egypt, which offered jobs to some 40,000 people, al-Wakil said.