217 British firms invest in Egypt with total investments of $4b
Egypt-UK, Economics, 5/23/2001

London will host on June 18 and 19 an economic and trade conference for promoting investments in Egypt. The conference will be attended by a number of officials and businessmen in the two countries.

The conference will shed light on the investment climate and investment opportunities in Egypt, the restructuring program and prospects of future cooperation in oil, communications, information technology (IT)and construction works.

The annual round table meeting of the Egyptian and British businessmen in Cairo was attended by the chairman of the British-Egyptian Chamber of Commerce in London, David Blatherwick, the chairman of the Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA), Saeed el-Taweil and the chairman of the General Authority for Free Zones and Investment (GAFI), Mohammed el-Ghamrawi, as well as a number of businessmen from the two countries.

Addressing the meeting, Ghamrawi reviewed the investment opportunities in Egypt saying that there were large prospects for British investors in oil refining, liquified natural gas, petrochemicals power, road construction and IT.

He added that there were 217 British companies investing in Egypt with total investments of about $4 billion. He also stressed the fact that the investment law in Egypt prevented nationalization of private investments and imposed no restrictions on transferring profits abroad.

He also underlined the tax exemptions offered to investment projects, which reach 20 years in some cases.

Ghamrawi also pointed out to the rise of the positive economic indicators of the Egyptian economy noting that it had hit an annual growth rate of 5.5 per cent and that unemployment rate fell to 7 per cent.

EBA chairman, Saeed el-Taweil, addressed the meeting saying that Egypt depended greatly on Britain's support particularly with regard to its association agreement with the EU. He added that British investments were among the biggest non-Arab investments in Egypt, noting that they formed about 30 per cent of the total volume of foreign investments.

Addressing the round table meeting, David Blatherwick, said that Egyptian exports to Britain in 2000 had realized a boom as they hit $440 million while British exports to Egypt were about $500. He pointed out that trade deficit between the two countries had come down.

He added that his Chamber was working hard to attract chairmen and representatives of the big British companies to join the Chamber in a bid to enhance British investments in Egypt.

Charge d'Affairs at the British Embassy in Cairo also addressed the meeting saying that Egypt had managed to establish itself as one of the strongest emerging economies where investments could be launched.

Chairman of the Egyptian-British Business Council, Mohammed Nuseir said that the Council was doing its best to encourage bilateral trade and facilitate contacts between businessmen from the two countries.

One of the important issues tackled by the round table meeting was the problems facing the Egyptian potatoes exports to Europe.

EBA member, Mohammed el-Naggar, said that the problems seemed to be a trade and political one in the first place and not at all related to the brownish rot disease. " The Netherlands face the same problem of that brownish rot in its potatoes production but the rest of the European countries import it while they do not do the same with the Egyptian potatoes where very few cases were spotted," he said.

Previous Stories:
  British investments in Egypt's oil sector increases $ five billion   (4/21/2001)
  British investments in Egypt hit $ 4.4 billion   (4/4/2001)
  Drastic changes in the Egyptian legislation to increase investment   (3/31/2001)

Please add a link on your webiste pointing to ArabicNews.com and bookmark ArabicNews.com & subscribe to our daily email news bulletin.

Search