Hanoi - Visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi urged Vietnamese industrialists to invest in Egypt in various domains. Addressing the Egyptian-Vietnamese business forum in Hanoi, Sisi said that Egypt is tops world countries in return on investment (ROI) in view of the package of incentives offered to businessmen. Sisi welcomed Vietnamese investors, especially industrialists, who are willing to engage in economic partnerships in the industrial zones being established in Egypt. The Egyptian president hailed the Vietnamese development experiment which represented an economic success story. The Vietnamese experiment was based on maximizing the role of knowledge and technological innovation to achieve development. He hailed Vietnam's high ability to overcome the economic challenges which faced the Asian country as well as their political and social repercussions. Sisi also referred to a number of economic challenges that Cairo faced over the past years, including the high deficit in the balance of payments on the back of the decrease in tourism revenues and the volume of foreign direct investments. This prompted Cairo to take a number of important and unprecedented economic measures, such as liberalizing the exchange rate and fuel prices, restructuring the subsidy system in addition to the serious pursuit of attracting more foreign investments through issuing the new investment law, Sisi asserted. The new investment law aims to facilitate investment measures and remove all obstacles facing investors and the private sector, Sisi noted. The recent structural reforms contributed to improving macro-economic indicators, raising economic growth rates and increasing foreign currency reserves to reach dlrs 36 billion for the first time in years, as well as recovering the country's credit rating, Sisi underlined. Sisi is the first Egyptian president to visit Vietnam since the establishment of the Cairo-Hanoi diplomatic ties. The Egyptian-Vietnamese business forum was organized by the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCOC) and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce. The event was attended by a cluster of senior Vietnamese officials and a galaxy of Vietnamese and Egyptian businessmen. The forum aims to probe ways of boosting bilateral economic and trade cooperation and explore available investment opportunities in Egypt.
