Egyptian officials were aggressive at selling Egypt at this week's 10th annual Euromoney conference. Niveen Wahish attended Ahmed Nazif's cabinet had only been in office for around two months when they addressed last year's conference. At that time, government representatives enthusiastically made promises and offers. On Tuesday they came to this year's gathering with renewed thrust. As Prime Minister Nazif put it, "we have done much better than break even." He pointed out that government efforts during the past year to provide a better environment for investment have started to gain momentum. Mahmoud Mohieddin gave some indicators. He pointed out that because of investor confidence, investments in the non-oil sector have more than doubled and so has the number of newly established companies, reaching 6,236 set up since July 2004. Foreign direct investment grew from around $400 million in 2004 to more than $900 million during the first three quarters of 2005. Moreover, capital market capitalisation has gone from 42 per cent of GDP in July 2004 to more than 70 per cent of GDP July of this year. "We have seen this despite it being the elections year, despite the tension in the region, and despite the terrorism," he said. Not only did the officials brag about promises they made good on, but also presented a list of new commitments. "We still have some way to go," said Mohieddin, promising solutions to persistent problems related to access to land, dispute settlement and access to finance. He also took a firm stand against corruption. "We need to and will fight corruption, and combat theft," through the rule of law, transparency, simplification of procedures and decentralisation among other things. "This is our way of building the country, not just the economy." A freedom of information act, he said, has been drafted and will soon be introduced to parliament. New sales and real estate tax laws, an end to nuisance taxation and a new pension system were some of the promises that Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros-Ghali committed to. He described the Egyptian economy as a tiger that as yet is to realise its potential. "With the proper incentive and vision, we can provide energy for that tiger to deliver." The optimistic mood was not limited to government officials. "We have a government that is courageous enough to have taken strong actions and implemented policies needed by the private sector to grow," said Taher Helmi, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo. However, Yasser El-Mallawani, CEO of EFG- Hermes Holding, stressed that the challenge today is momentum. "The dream team has to be expanded and supported." Various issues were brought up throughout the two-day conference, ranging from boosting investments into the Egyptian market and financial reform, to the potential growth in the energy and communications and information technology sectors.
