Jamal Saif Al Jarwan, secretary-general of the UAE International Investors Council, met in Dubai with Hussein Tantawy, CEO of the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC) as well as with Tareq El Ghazaly, regional general manager of the NBE in the UAE.
The meeting discussed prospects for joint cooperation between the UAE International Investors Council and the NBE. This is to pave the way for UAE private sector companies and businessmen to invest in various promising investment fields in all of Egypt’s governorates and to attract more investments from companies and investors wishing to enter the Egyptian market or to expand their investments. This targets increasing the proportion and value of investments in Egypt.
Al Jarwan stressed that the council pays attention and is keen to continue cooperating with the Egyptian government, especially in light of Egypt’s remarkable success in implementing the economic reform programme, and the constant readiness of UAE investors to develop these relations.
The volume of UAE investments in Egypt reached about ED 27bn ($7,35bn), he pointed out.
According to Al Jarwan, cooperation with the NBE will positively contribute to the achievement of the mission and objectives of the Emirate council. This is especially in terms of exploring the promising investment opportunities in Egypt and building a database periodically upon these opportunities in order to allow them to be presented to UAE investors, thus fulfilling the objectives of UAE investors regarding their investments in Egypt, and to overcome any obstacles facing these investments.
He added: “We are always keen to coordinate and extend bridges of cooperation with everyone, whether governmental or semi-governmental institutions or private sector companies and others, internally and externally.”
Furthermore, Al Jarwan commended the role played by the NBE in the DIFC, concerning cooperating with the bank’s regional representation office in the UAE, which provides unique services that positively contribute to enhancing investment cooperation between Egypt and the UAE.
Coordination is underway between the Emirate council and the NBE to finalise the joint cooperation agreement between the bank and the council which will be announced soon, he pointed out.
For his part, Tantawy, expressed his pride in the bank’s cooperation with the council and through sponsoring investment opportunities in Egypt for UAE investment entities, businessmen, and investors.
He added that the NBE is also providing proper investment advice and solutions for the establishment of distinguished projects in Egypt, especially since the Egyptian government attaches great importance to that stage, which will certainly positively affect the returns achieved.
Tantawy stressed that this cooperation will strengthen and open new horizons for the NBE in the DIFC to attract more UAE investors to Egypt in order to participate and benefit from promising and feasible investment opportunities and to continue to offer innovative investment solutions to both partners and customers. This aims to boost investment in Egypt, increase the rates of direct investment, and positively reflects on the national economy.
Furthermore, Tantawy added that the NBE in the DIFC was established in 2011 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the NBE, licensed by the Dubai Financial Services Authority, to serve as the bank’s investment promoters in the Gulf region, provide advisory and financial services to investors, offer effective investment solutions, and direct access to unique investment opportunities in Egypt.
The NBE in the DIFC has succeeded in concluding several investment deals with a number of UAE investors, allowing investments into the financial markets of Egypt, the UAE, and other countries, as well as investing in debt instruments issued by the Egyptian government, in return for periodic and capital gains for investors beyond expectations, he pointed out.
This has contributed to the confidence of investors and their keenness to continue cooperating with the NBE-DIFC, especially after extending its role to providing support, advice, and advanced investment necessary solutions for UAE investors, in order to maximise the return on their investments in Egypt, stated the CEO of the NBE.
One of the most successful deals was the one concluded between the NBE-DIFC and the Amlak Emirates Company to develop the 42,000 sqm of land owned by the company in Nasr City.
He pointed out that cooperation with a senior developer in Egypt has been undertaken to establish a residential, administrative, and commercial project, and to provide investment solutions which will ensure that the project achieves returns of up to EGP 10bn during the period of revenue collection, as well as the success in starting to take serious executive steps to establish an investment fund for health care in Egypt worth $100m with the participation of the NBE and the MBF Emirati group.
For his part, El Ghazaly, said that cooperation with the Emirate council is one important milestone in supporting joint relations between the bank and major investment entities in the UAE, businessmen, and investors, as well as the opening of new fruitful horizons for investment cooperation with the UAE side.
This is expected to be attract more investors to Egypt, and finding the appropriate mechanism through the council in order to offer distinguished investment opportunities to the elite of UAE investors to establish viable investment projects in Egypt. The NBE is the strongest, most successful, and oldest bank in Egypt.
He pointed out that the bank’s assets are more than EGP 1.6tn and provides many advanced banking and financing services, in accordance with the latest international methods, which significantly contributes toward the provision of an attractive financial and banking environment for investors to implement joint investment projects in Egypt.
Moreover, El Ghazaly highlighted that the bank has been in the UAE since 2006 in the form of a regional representation office, with a license from the Central Bank of the UAE.
The office has been working since its inception to support Egyptian-Emirati relations in the field of investment and banking operations, in addition to the other regular work carried out by the office to serve the Egyptian community in the UAE, in coordination with the bank’s branches and units in Egypt, he explained.
