The International Monetary Fund's Managing Director Christine Lagarde arrived in Sharm El-Sheikh on Friday morning to attend the three-day Economic Development Conference. The Egyptian summit will take place on March 13-15, 2015, with the theme of "Egypt the Future", aiming to encourage Gulf and international companies and organisations to invest in the country and contribute to its development. In earlier statements before her departure for Sharm El-Sheikh, Lagarde asserted that Egypt is on the right track after the government set a plan to meet the economic needs of the State, She urged the Egyptian government and people to be patient till the economic reforms are accomplished. Lagarde added that the conference provides an opportunity for the Egyptian government to publicize its plan for facing economic challenges. Earlier this month, the International Monetary Fund said that Egypt's structural and monetary reforms were starting to produce a turnaround in the economy, which has been hit by persistent turmoil since 2011. Egypt's current government has since embarked on a series of reforms, and asked the IMF to assess its financial and economic condition in the hope that a positive report would boost its image ahead of an international investors' conference in March. "The measures implemented so far, along with some recovery in confidence, are starting to produce a turnaround," said the IMF in a press release at the conclusion of its consultations.
