Dr. Mustafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister, held a meeting today to review the proposal submitted by a number of investors abroad to establish the “Egyptians Abroad for Investment" company. The meeting was attended by Ambassador Soha Gendy, Minister of State for Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs; Dr. Mohamed Farid, Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority “FRA"; Mr. Hossam Heiba, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones “GAFI"; Eng. Ashraf Doss, CEO of US-based “Fern Pro Global"; Eng. Tamer Hedayat, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Netsync" company; Dr. Hassan Al-Jarrahy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al-Amal Printing Company in KSA; the banking expert/ Wael Hassan, former mortgage consultant at JPMorgan Chase bank; Counselor/ Alaa Ragab, Legal Adviser to the Central Bank; Mr./ Adel Boulos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of “Amira" Enterprises inc. for food products; Mr./ Karim Asaad, CEO of Brooks & Kempton; and a number of officials.
Dr. Madbouly started the meeting by welcoming the attendees, expressing his happiness with this initiative to establish the “Egyptians Abroad for Investment" company. “We are keen that the Egyptians abroad have an opportunity to invest in their country, and they will have priority in the projects that are being implemented in various sectors in Egypt.", Prime Minister said. He reaffirmed his welcomes to this approach and that various forms of support will be provided by the Egyptian government in this regard.
Minister of State for Immigration stated that the idea of establishing “Egyptians Abroad for Investment" company is one of the demands and recommendations issued by the Egyptian Entities Abroad Conference held in 2022, explaining that such proposal was approved and worked on during the last period. In this regard, she referred to the meetings held with a number of ministers and officials of the concerned authorities, during which promising investment areas and opportunities in Egypt were discussed, in addition to the meetings held with a large number of Egyptian investors abroad regarding reviewing the idea of establishing this company. Besides, several proposals and visions were put forward in this regard.
Ambassador Soha Gendy said that the idea of establishing the company was well received by the Egyptian investors abroad. As they also expressed their desire to implement this idea, and they immediately formed the "Core" group. The group included a number of the company's founding investors, several meetings and gatherings were held, and initials were signed with the ten investors who represent the "core" of this company.
At the same context, the Minister indicated that the company will be managed by Egyptian investors abroad, not by the Government. She pointed out that the results of the meetings held with Egyptian investors abroad will be presented encompassing the review made of a number of visions and proposals related to the company to be established.
Ambassador Nader Saad, the official spokesperson for the Council of Ministers, stated that the role of the company that will be established in linking Egyptians abroad with their homeland has been highlighted, and it has been emphasized that the Egyptian state enjoys promising investment opportunities in various sectors, which qualifies it to attract more investments from Egyptians abroad.
The spokesperson said: During the meeting, a number of focal points around which the idea of establishing this company revolved were reviewed, as well as the investment vision, investment activities in specific sectors, a proposal for the legal structure was presented as well, in addition to other determinants of the importance of establishing the company.
In this context, Ambassador Nader Saad explained that it was noted that such proposed new entity would encompass a number of founders from Egyptian businessmen; and distinguished successful cadres who are abroad and have successful experiences abroad and in Egypt. They also have expertise that qualifies them to manage such a national entity, along with a professional team of legal and financial advisors.
During the meeting, it was pointed out that such project is to establish an investment company; in order to promote the investment opportunities, the company works on, abroad for Egyptians who wish to invest in Egypt, which increases the attraction of foreign investments to the Egyptian State. Such would take place with the support of the incentive measures adopted by the Egyptian government in order to improve the business climate and provision of various concessions and incentives to encourage the flow of foreign direct investments (FDI).
Furthermore, the company's investment vision, represented in the investment strategy and investment activities, was reviewed. Such strategy focuses on increasing export revenues; developing Egyptian companies; reducing the import bill; as well as raising the efficiency of Egyptian human resources, while the investment activities are represented in investment in several sectors: industry; agriculture; technology; commerce; real estate; and tourism.
At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister reiterated his welcome and support for the company establishment, and motivation of Egyptians abroad to invest in their homeland. He directed that a meeting that includes the Minister of State for Immigration, the Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority “FRA", the Chief Executive Officer if the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI CEO), and the officials of the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) be held, to agree on the detailed technical subject matters related to the company establishment, and to present the outcomes of the meeting to take the necessary measures regarding the emergence of such important entity and its contribution to the national economy.
