YORK could exploit links with ancient Egypt to give the city a launch pad to trade with the Middle East.

A local architecture firm is spearheading talks with Egyptian officials to agree a commercial twinning with Luxor, in southern Egypt.

Mel Fairbourn-Varley, international projects director at DWA Architects and a member of the York Export Forum, visited Luxor in May in connection with the firm’s own ventures in Egypt.

The company specialises in care homes and has been working with Age Concern International, which introduced it to the Egyptian market. It is now working with the Egyptian government and hotel sector on a potential project to create assisted living accommodation for tourists aged over 55 in Luxor.

Mr Fairbourn-Varley said Luxor, known as the world’s greatest open-air museum, was a tourist city like York and its location, linking the oasis towns in the western desert and Red Sea resorts, known for their natural holistic medical treatments, made it a potential destination for health tourism.

He said: “There’s an opportunity there for us to look at that as a possible tourist attraction for over-55s in the European, US and Middle Eastern markets.”

Mr Fairbourn-Varley met the governor of Luxor to discuss a commercial twinning and suggested setting up a Luxor Export Forum to mirror the York Export Forum. He said: “The twinning is very exciting for the north of England. I was talking to an import export company in Luxor who were keen to have a London base.

“I’m trying to persuade them to have a York base. A lot of the Arab world doesn’t see the UK outside London.

“I see Luxor as being a conduit to the wider Middle East, to Oman and the Arab peninsula. Egypt is still looked upon as being the father or mother of the Middle East because it is a very ancient civilisation. What happens there is often copied elsewhere in the Arab world and it’s the birthplace for ideas and cultural change.”

He hoped to organise later this year an exchange visit for the governor of Luxor to visit York, which would be followed by a return visit to Luxor.

The partners are also both looking at creating a focal point in a hotel, shop unit or office in both cities to promote the twinning and where businesses could discuss opportunities it presents.