Executive chairperson of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) Mohamed Khodeir pledged to grant Egypt’s private sector the necessary support and information to enable it to play a greater role in investment in Africa, and to provide it with the available investment opportunities for discussion.
Egypt’s government is concerned with developing economic and investment relations with Africa as it believes in the importance of continuous integration and ongoing cooperation among all African governments to achieve sustainable development for all African countries, Khodeir said on the sidelines of the Global African Investment Summit which currently is underway in Kigali, Rwanda.
“Egypt seeks to achieve genuine partnership among African countries, especially with the availability of all necessary resources and capabilities to achieve economic integration between various economic blocs, which will positively reflect on the African people,” he added.
For the next stage, the private sector in African countries must be granted a greater role in its contribution to achieving sustainable development on the continent. This requires entering into common industrial and investment partnerships, which is GAFI’s mission, according to Khodeir.
“We are working on providing all information about the investment environment in different African countries to encourage Egyptian businessmen to invest in those countries, as well as enhancing the institutional cooperation with African investment bodies and providing various training programmes in all areas of interest to those bodies,” Khodeir added.
The chairperson held deliberations with Rwandan president Paul Kjama and Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni. Kjama expressed his support of promoting trade and investment among African countries.
Khodeir participated in the Global African Investment Summit inaugural session, which launched on Monday. It was attended by leaders from Rwanda and Uganda, the secretary general of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), in addition to participants from the public and private sectors of the three African economic blocs—COMESA, the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and the East African Community. Moreover, a large number of investors, investment funds, and banks from various African countries took part in the summit.
