Abu Dhabi, UAE – Egypt has over 3,000 Emirati companies operating in telecommunications, construction, smart cities, retail, oil and gas, ports, agriculture, hotels, and services.
This was revealed by Jamal bin Saif Al Jarwan, Secretary-General of the UAE International Investors Council (UAEIIC).
Giving further details, Al Jarwan said that the value of the UAE investments in Egypt totaled $28 billion at the end of the first quarter of 2023, compared to $20 billion during the same period in 2020, a 40 percent increase.
Two countries, he added, also aim to increase the investment to $35 billion over the next decade. The investment is sought to be made in tourism, education, logistics, food industries, clean and renewable energy, aviation, pharmaceuticals, and transportation.
The UAE and Egypt share deep-rooted relations while underscoring that the economic and investment cooperation between the two countries has witnessed significant overall development, Al Jarwan said.
Sheikh Mohamed, al-Sisi meet
On Wednesday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met his Emirati counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al Nahyan in Cairo, his latest meeting with a leader from the oil-rich Gulf amid his country’s economic crisis.
Sisi has been courting Gulf leaders as Egypt grapples with economic turmoil that has seen official inflation shoot up to nearly 34 percent and the local currency halve in value over the past year.
The two leaders “explored opportunities to further strengthen the deep-rooted ties between the UAE and Egypt”, Sheikh Mohamed tweeted.
Cairo’s foreign reserves fell by about 20 percent in one year to $34.45 billion — about $28 billion of which are deposits from wealthy Gulf donors.
Experts have for months warned that Egypt is among the top five countries at risk of defaulting on its debt, which hit a record high of $162.9 billion at the end of 2022, according to official figures.
But Sisi’s Gulf allies — on whose support he relied after deposing Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 — are now demanding economic reform and greater transparency in return for their largesse.
Earlier this month, Sisi visited Saudi Arabia where he met de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Cairo also serves as the headquarters of the Arab League and on April 1 welcomed Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad, who on Wednesday was in Saudi Arabia for the first time since his country’s civil war broke out.