Confirms Britain is biggest investor in Egypt

Britain's trade envoy to Egypt, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson revealed that Britain is the biggest investor in Egypt, and during the past five years, number of British companies have invested more than EGP30 billion in the Egyptian market, which is a clear evidence on his country's commitment to Egypt.

Donaldson said, in an interview with Arabs Today, that his country intends to make a larger volume of business in Egypt , saying: "We have great confidence in the Egyptian economy, which began to grow, and we are confident that the actions taken by the government will bear fruit in the long term, in terms of attracting more investments and create more job opportunities for Egyptians."

Concerning the British trade missions visiting Egypt now, the British envoy said that the trade missions included a large number of representatives of British companies to hold meetings with Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce members, and we have another mission from Ireland and  Scotland, which came to discuss ways of investing in the petroleum and energy field.

"The presence of the three trade missions reflects  the United Kingdom's keenness on the need to expand the size of its business in the the Egyptian market," Donaldson stated.

"The members of the missions met with a large number of Egyptian businessmen and representatives of Egyptian companies to discuss opportunities for joint ventures and investments," he added.

Donaldson indicated that the increasing desire of the British companies to invest in Egypt, whenever there is a need to take advantage of skilled people, so, there is a need to develop the field of vocational rehabilitation for the acquisition of skills for those wishing to join the labor market as well as number of British universities also want to contribute in developing the education sector in Egypt.

Concerning the agreement on British projects in the Suez Canal, the British envoy said that there are a number of British companies are currently negotiating to undertake a number of projects there, as a result of the Egyptian success in promoting for the free zone of new Suez channel.

Concerning British investors's requirements, Donaldson confirmed that one of those requirements was to achieve the stability of the local currency, which is done by the Egyptian side significantly.

"We will continue in supporting the Egyptian economic reforms to gain greater capability in attracting foreign direct investment, which will benefit the Egyptian economy," the British envoy concluded.