UAE becomes third largest foreign investor in Egypt

THE United Arab Emirates (UAE) has become the third largest foreign investor in Egypt in the areas of information and communication business, Investment Minister, Mahmoud Mohieldin told ITNewsAfrica in an exclusive interview Thursday in Cairo.

Mohieldin said the ties between Egypt and the United Arab Emirates were set to grow stronger than before, especially in the fields of information and communication technology as well as finance. He said there were over 400 UAE companies in the North African country, including 64 contracting, 44 financial, 125 service, 40 agricultural, 38 tourism and 23 communications businesses.

Mohieldin hailed the UAE while on an official visit to the country. In his first major trip outside Egypt this year, the minister told journalists that the total number of UAE’s investments in Egypt had increased by over 50 percent since 2003.

Mohieldin’s visit comes ahead of a number of planned UAE trips to Egypt by business delegations over the next few weeks to discuss current and future projects.

“The proposals involve agriculture, land reclamation and the food industry in Southern Egypt, as well as infrastructure and renewable energy projects. We have noticed a positive element in the UAE’s investments in Egypt – they are no longer centered on real estate and financial services, but are highly diversified,” said Mohieldin.

Investment Ministry officials told ITNewsAfrica that the minister’s visit was part of planned efforts to promote investment in Egypt as the economic situation globally continues to dwindle. Officials at the ministry said Mohieldin’s visit was to show that Egypt’s economy has yet to be hit by the worldwide recession and “is expected to grow by around five percent in 2009.”

They said Egypt had however, not completely escaped the crisis, particularly in manpower development, in a country where about 650 000 new job seekers enter the market every year. The ministry said the government has pumped around 30 billion Egyptian pounds (US$5 billion) into new projects and economic initiatives to support economic growth.—ITNewsAfrica.