Egypt initiative to lure Gulf capital

Egypt has launched a five-year initiative intended to attract capital from Gulf oil producers as the most populous Arab country is pushing ahead with a drive to revamp its conflict-hit economy and offset a decline in Western financial aid.

In a report from Cairo published, the London-based Saudi Arabic language Al-Hayat said Cairo announced the initiative at a conference on investment dedicated mainly to luring capital from its allies in the oil-rich Gulf.

The paper quoted Egypt’s investment minister Osama Saleh as telling the conference that the initiative is designed to “achieve economic and strategic integration between Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“Egypt intends to present 60 projects to Gulf investors at the conference which ends today (Thursday),” the paper said.

Citing official data, it said Egypt expects foreign direct investment from the GCC and other counties to reach USDfour-five billion in 2013-2014.

It quoted Saleh as saying he would visit Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE in early 2014 to discuss fresh injection of Gulf investment into Egypt.

He told the forum that GCC states, which also group Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, are already the biggest investors in Egypt, with their assets standing at around USD49.7 billion compared to USD46.2 billion in Western capital.

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