Chairman of Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamesh met a British trade delegation in Suez Wednesday to discuss reinforcing foreign investment in the Suez Canal Corridor. The delegation, led by UK Middle East minister Tobias Ellwood and UK ambassador to Cairo John Casson, visited the digging and dredging sites of the new Suez Canal. Mamesh held a joint press conference with the British delegation and presented the Egyptian government's development plan for the Suez Canal, noting that Egypt continues to seek more foreign investment in the infrastructure project. Mamesh said that the Suez Canal recorded an increase in revenues last year despite the obstacles facing the wider Egyptian economy. Britain launched its largest trade mission to Egypt in over a decade on Tuesday, involving more than 40 companies and top foreign investors in the Middle East. Ellwood met Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab on Tuesday and discussed possible avenues of economic cooperation between London and Cairo. After his meeting with Mahlab, Ellwood stated that their discussion "Is part of an ongoing program of economic cooperation which will include more trade visits and U.K. participation in the March investment conference," referring to the upcoming Sharm El-Sheikh Economic Conference. Since the popular uprising in 2011, Egypt has witnessed an economic decline caused by the political unrest in the country. In August, President Abdel Fattah el Sisi launched the Suez Canal expansion project in an attempt to revive Egypt's lagging economy.
