Strong Gulf contingent arrives in Egypt

Over 270 of about 1,300 foreign officials and executives registered for the event, which will declare Egypt open for business again.

Women walk at a local market in Cairo. Egypt hopes to attract domestic and foreign investments worth up to $12 billion. — AP

Doha/Abu Dhabi/Khobar — Arabian Gulf governments are encouraging hundreds of companies to attend an international investment summit in Egypt starting today, in a move that may help the firms become top players in a rebounding Egyptian economy.

Over 270 of about 1,300 foreign officials and executives registered for the event, which will declare Egypt open for business again after years of economic and political turmoil, are from the six GCC states.

That makes the Gulf the largest regional contingent at the conference, eclipsing Europe, which traditionally dominated foreign investment in Egypt before the Arab Spring of 2011. The roughly 160 delegates from the UAE far outnumber the 55 from the United States — though some of them are UAE-based representatives of Western firms.

The disparity in numbers suggests that initially at least, Gulf firms may grab the lion’s share of the billions of dollars of investment opportunities on offer in sectors from power generation to real estate, finance, retailing and industry.

Egyptian officials have said they hope the conference, to be held from today until Sunday in the resort town of Sharm Al Shaikh, will confirm domestic and foreign investments worth up to $12 billion. Half the projects which Egypt will propose are expected to be in the energy sector.

There are good reasons for Gulf firms to be interested in Egypt. Its 90 million population is nearly double that of the Gulf states, where markets are more mature and in many cases more competitive.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait are signalling to Gulf firms that they will back investment in Egypt. “There is support from the UAE government,” Hussain Al Nowais, chairman of Abu Dhabi’s General Holding Corp (Senaat), a major state-owned industrial investment firm, said.

Stimulating corporate investment is key to the plan. Since mid-2013, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have provided Cairo with $23 billion of oil shipments, cash grants and deposits in the Egyptian central bank.

Officials in the Gulf and Cairo say they want to move economic assistance into a new phase, in which corporate capital from the Gulf helps revive economic growth and create jobs.

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