Egypt’s Prime Minister Hesham Kandil has implored Turkish businessmen to invest in the Suez canal as the North African nation plans to turn the canal into a “development corridor” by establishing industrial zones on its left and right banks.

He asked Turkish businessmen not to see Egypt as a single country with 85 million people but as the door to billions of people in Africa.

Speaking at the sidelines of the Turkey-Egypt Business Council meeting last Friday, Kandil said, “the Suez Canal’s contribution to the Egyptian economy only from fees from ships passing by is like $5.6 billion a year. But with industries in the right and left side banks of the canal and plus with logistical services, we think we can go up to $100 billion a year.”

Kandil who had a meeting with Turkey’s president Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said both nations had agreed to expand ro-ro lines and also to allow Egyptian goods to be carried from Egypt to Turkey and to Europe.

Turkey and Egypt’s bilateral trade has improved somewhat tremendously over the years following the Tahrir Revolution in Egypt.