(Photo courtesy of Egypt’s Cabinet)
Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb held consultations with the Indian Ambassador to Cairo last week to discuss boosting Indian investments in Egypt and reassuring the international business community regarding investing in Egypt, according to Dr Sherif El-Shawky, the prime minister’s media adviser.
Shawky said: “The prime minister presented to Ambassador Navdeep Suri [potential] technological projects to take advantage of recent advances in India and vowed to settle any disputes faced by Indian investments in Cairo.”
The prime minister said in a recent statement that the government is undertaking a comprehensive economic reform project in addition to reviewing all economic legislation to increase foreign investment, restore confidence of international markets, increase growth rates and create jobs.
The statement mentioned that the prime minister consulted with Suri to strengthen all economic, commercial, technical and cultural fields.
Suri said: “We support Egypt in its efforts to enact economic reform, and we plan to increase our investments in Egypt and motivate more Indian tourism by reassuring citizens of the security situation in Egypt and increasing cultural coordination.”
He continued: “The Indian government supports investment in Egypt as an investment and marking base, not only on the level of the domestic market, but also in the greater region.”
“We are negotiating to increase Indian investment and tourism presence in Egypt in the near future, and we will work to combat and solve all difficulties faced by Indian companies in Egypt in the shortest amount of time possible,” Mehleb said.
According to the Investment Authority Information Center, Indian investments in Egypt amount to $2.5bn across 50 ventures in the textile, clothing, pharmaceutical, information technology, petrochemical and auto parts fields, among others.
The government hopes for trade exchange between the two countries to reach $8bn in 2016. In 2012, trade between India and Egypt was worth $5.5bn and $2.3bn during the first half of 2013. Egypt imports meat, medicines, chemicals, tea and sugar from India.
