By Amina El-Farnawany
The Economic Ministerial Committee met on Monday to decide on several key areas of business, including the budget, investment, development projects and boosting enterprise.
Among the key decisions reached at the meeting, which was chaired by Prime Minister Sherif Ismail, was the management of the EGP 265m budget for expansion work on the sea-water desalination plant at Hurghada.
Committee members agreed to allocate EGP 100m to be spent during the rest of 2015, with the remaining EGP 265m to be spent through the remaining course of the project, which aims to expand the desalination plant and increase its production capacity.
In other business, the committee assigned the General Authority for Free Zones and Investments to be the sole entity in charge of the establishment of companies and enterprises, emphasising the need for the Ministry of Investment to speed up its coverage of all governorates using the one-stop-shop model.
Minister of investment Ashraf Salman stated that 269 new companies were established during the period from 15 to 19 November 2015. He said the new companies are in the areas of agriculture, tourism, finance, industry, construction, and information and communications technology.
It is hoped that the creation of new companies will attract investment and promote development operations in different regions, in turn providing new job opportunities for young people.
