The Egyptian Businessmen's Association, a coalition of pro-business organizations, plans to carry out shuttle visits to Nile Basin countries in order to explore investment opportunities. Meanwhile, the Egyptian government has called for clearing obstacles that may impede investment in Africa. Hussein Sabbour, the association's head, cited lack of funding as the chief impediment to investing in Nile Basin countries. In a statement to Al-Masry Al-Youm, Sabbour noted the reluctance of banks to extend loans for Africa projects due to a high risk of failure. He added, though, that banks have not conducted serious studies on the feasibility of the projects. Sabbour revealed that Al-Ahli Bank of Egypt intends to directly invest in agriculture and power. Safwan Thabet, head of Investors Association in 6th October, said a delegation from the association is scheduled to visit Burundi at the beginning of next year to determine investment opportunities. Burundi, for its part, is preparing a list of the projects for which it intends to encourage investment. According to the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, Egyptian investments in the Nile Basin exceed LE4 billion, 75 percent of which are in Sudan, followed by Ethiopia. Ahmed Bahgat, president of Bahgat Group, cited the need to bolster economic relations with African countries, especially in the Nile Basin, and asserted the existence of high-income opportunities for investment in Africa while highlighting the strategic and political significance of such projects. Abdel Monem Saudi, another member of the association, said Egyptian businessmen have only recently begun to invest in Africa. He argued that the increased investment coincides with a recent increase in the strategic geo-political importance of African countries. Some investors have called for facilitating greater overland trade between Egypt and countries in south and east Africa. Many of these lank-locked nations have unreliable railway networks, causing transportation cost hikes. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
