A joint committee formed by Saudi Arabia and Egypt to prevent the faltering of the Gulf Kingdom’s investments in the most populous Arab country has succeeded in clearing problem facing 28 Saudi companies, a newspaper reported.
The 28 firms control nearly 15 billion Egyptian pounds ($2.15 billion) in assets, accounting for around 61.6 per cent of the total stalled Saudi investments in Egypt, the Saudi Arabic language daily Alyoum said.
The paper, quoting a statement by the Cairo-based Saudi-Egyptian business association, said a committee formed recently for this purpose had held nearly 300 marathon meetings to resolve problems facing Saudi investments in Egypt in a bid to prevent their withdrawal from that market.
“The committee has succeeded in resolving the problems facing 28 Saudi companies…it will try to tackle the problems facing the remaining six firms,” the paper said, quoting the association’s secretary general Ahmed Darwish.
“This has given a big push to Saudi investments, which have been stalled in Egypt for years and could have pulled out of the market.”
The paper did not elaborate on those problems but Saudi businessmen have reported some of their projects in construction and other sectors in Egypt have stalled as a result of political incidents, disputes with local contracts and other factors.