Egypt welcomes Arab investments

Egyptian Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Mounir Fakhry Abdulnour on Monday highlighted the role of Arab investments, particularly from Kuwait, in revitalizing economic growth in his country at the current critical stage. Egypt is recovering and an investment-attractive country, he told a group of Arab reporters, including KUNA's, on the sidelines of his participation in a two-day international investment conference. Despite the challenges of the current stage, the new government in Egypt will continue working for creating the necessary atmospheres for promoting foreign direct investment and joint ventures with Arab partners, he pointed out. He stressed the need to introduce legislative amendments to the investment laws after the coming legislative elections later this year in the framework of the roadmap for the future, announced on June 30, 2013. He promised to solve the problems of Arab and foreign investors in Egypt and cut the red tape in order to attract investments from around the globe. Commenting on the economic turmoil in his country, Abdulnour said the budget deficit hit 270 billion Egyptian pounds (about USD 39.4 billion). Yet, he expressed hope that a sound economic policy and more government efforts could bring the budget deficit down by 10 percent approximately. The government will exert more efforts to increase exports and promote foreign direct investment in order to reach the target of six percent GDP, he affirmed. Among the mega projects the government plans to execute in the near future are the Suez Canal development project and the golden triangle project in southeast Egypt. Abdulnour affirmed that Egypt is an open market with abundant investment opportunities in various fields such as construction, the auto industry, foodstuffs and the processing of agricultural produce.