The Egyptian government targets implementing 75% of total investments of this year through the PPP system to speed up the pace of economic reform, said Minister of Investment Ashraf Salman.
“Liberation of sectors like the energy sector contributed to attracting national and foreign investors to the sector,” Salman added, explaining that long-term plans for strategic commodities are being set in order to study the market’s needs for these commodities, in addition to establishing infrastructure and enabling investment opportunities to meet the future need for these commodities.
Salman pledged to improve the business environment and reform the investment climate to attract more local and foreign investments during his meeting with members of the British Egyptian Business Association, in the presence of the head of the association, Sameh Seif El-Yazal, and the Chairman of the General Authority for Investment (GAFI).
According to the minister, the government has already executed real financial and economic reforms to complete the system of the structural reform of the state’s general budget, in order to reduce the budget deficit, and to improve the economic legislative environment and the procedures of preparing the investment climate. That positively reflected on the improvement in economic indicators and reduction in the unemployment rate.
“Attracting more foreign and local investments requires working more, coordinating, building capabilities, building efficient institutional entities, reducing bureaucracy, and reducing the number of procedures,” said Salman.
He stated that the system of the Excellent Service at GAFI will be activated, which enables the investor to finish the registration, licenses, and approvals procedures on the same day.
Responding to the questions of the association’s members, Salman said that there is cooperation with the World Bank in the field of activating the Single-Window system and mechanising all the procedures, which will enable investors to finish all procedures needed to initiate business from one place, and deal with a specialised body conducting the studies needed for the projects.
That is in addition to the efforts made in the field of facilitating lands for various investment activities: industrial, agriculture, and real estate investment, through establishing industrial, agriculture and real estate investment areas, in accordance with the state’s plan for developing geographical areas.
