Mubarak review donor issues in Sharm EL-Sheikh conference
Egypt, Economics, 2/2/2002

Egyptian President Mubarak will review at his meeting tomorrow with Prime Minister Atef Ebeid the working papers which will be submitted by the government at Sharm EL Sheikh conference which will open next Tuesday.

The conference which will be attended by delegations from 37 states, and donor financial establishments aims at rallying support for the Egyptian economy in the face of the effects of September 11 incidents which have negatively affected Egypt's foreign exchange resources and caused a gap worth 2.5 billion dollars.

Responsible sources said all indications show that donor countries and establishments would fulfill Egypt's demands, adding a sum of 2.5 billion dollars will be earmarked for filling the gap in Egypt's resources.

The government will submit to the conference five working papers dealing with Egypt's efforts to carry out economic reform programmes at all levels.

An official source told AL Ahram that Egypt aims to get a quick financing of 2.5 billion dollars of which the volume of loans will not exceed 1.2 billion dollar.

The remaining sum will have the form of aid and grants. The government has drafted a list of 141 projects which will be financed through the conference and other projects which will be financed by the social fund for development.

Prime Minister Atef Ebeid is due to inaugurate the conference on Tuesday by a speech in which he will tackle Egypt's view of the need for going ahead with economic reform programmes in the light of trade liberalization, monetary, financial, taxation and legislative reforms in order to secure Egypt's integration into the world economy.

The Prime Minister will also explain the government's view of modernizing Egypt in various domains.

An official source said that the Deputy Chairman of the World Bank will address the conference.

Meantime, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Fayza Abul Naga underlined the importance of the donors conference to be held in the Red Sea resort of Sharm EL Sheikh on February 5-6.

"The importance of this conference does not only lie in the donations to be given to Egypt but also in the international community's message of confidence in the Egyptian economy's performance and its ability to overcome the hardships," said Abul Naga.

In press statements at the foreign ministry, Abul Naga said the crazy rise in the exchange rate in the recent period has nothing to do at all with the market mechanism and does not explain any phenomena according to the attestation of international experts including representatives of the World Bank (WB) and donors in Egypt.

"The first day of the Sharm EL Sheikh conference will see four working sessions on the impact of human development and the fourth will be dedicated to discuss the Social Fund for Development (SFD) and the projects Egypt will offer to the donors for assistance," she said.

Abul Naga called on the bodies concerned in Egypt and the mass media to cooperate and play their effective roles until the outcomes expected from the conference are achieved.

She pointed out that the inaugural speech will express Egypt's view in the reform measures adopted by the government on all economic, financial, monetary and tax tracks or reforms in the legislations which all aim at upgrading the Egyptians' standards of living.

Previous Stories:
  Work in Toshka makes progress   (1/31/2002)
  Egypt, UAE seek wider economic cooperation   (1/31/2002)
  Egyptian businessmen probe means to further agricultural cooperation with EU   (1/31/2002)
  Egypt committed to open market policy encouraging foreign investments   (1/30/2002)
  Egypt hosts donor countries conference on february 5   (1/22/2002)
  Ministerial Economic group reviews performance of national economy   (1/21/2002)

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

Search