JEDDAH, 9 June 2008 — As part of a drive to attract more foreign investment, authorities in Egypt have slashed the processing time of new projects financed by Saudis from three months to 72 hours.
Egyptian Investment Minister Mahmood Muhyuddin, who is currently visiting the Kingdom, revealed details of the new procedure at a meeting with Saudi businessmen at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry yesterday.
“The world is facing a food crisis, but with new incentives, the agriculture sector in Egypt is promising,” said Muhyuddin. He added that there are 1,631 Saudi investment projects in Egypt with a total capital of SR12 billion.
While the real estate sector topped the list of Saudi investments in Egypt, Saudis are also investing in agriculture, hydrocarbons, tourism, telecommunications, services, insurance and bank sectors, he said.
Saudi investments, which account for 36 percent of Arab investments in Egypt, top investments from other Arab countries.
Muhyuddin added that in order to attract foreign investments, Egypt has also cut by more than half taxes on Saudi projects (from 43 percent to 20 percent).
Saudi businessmen, who also attended the meeting, said they faced various hurdles in starting new projects in Egypt. One investor, who preferred to remain anonymous, said his paint factory in the October 6 City was embroiled in a land allotment problem.
The land was earlier allocated to another investor, but when he could not complete the project within the scheduled time, the land was reallocated to this Saudi businessman.
“But my project is also getting delayed because I’ve only received the land now, although I made representations through a lawyer,” he said.
Muhammad Abdul Fattah, chairman of the Federation of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Egypt, who is accompanying the minister, said that Saudi investments in Egypt were steadily increasing.
He also said that Saudi investments in the tourism industry have grown to 16 percent over the past five years. Saudi investments in joint projects with the participation of Egyptian investors reached 68 percent while the Egyptian share accounted for 32 percent, he added.