Egypt's Investment Minister Sahar Nasr underlined the importance of increasing British investments in the domestic market to cover various areas, especially education, technical training, SMEs, entrepreneurship, and transportation to generate job opportunities. Nasr's statements came on the margins of a meeting with the Minister of State for Middle East Affairs in the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office Andrew Murrison on Thursday during the Egyptian minister's visit to the UK. The two parties discussed increasing collaboration between Egypt and the UK in various areas, in addition to maximising British investments in Egypt, which currently records $47.4 billion with nearly 1,816 British companies working in the Egyptian market. The meeting also touched upon intensifying cooperation between the two sides through the Arab-British partnership programme, which allocates approximately £6 million annually to cover joint projects in various sectors including inclusive economic growth and boosting SMEs through Dufil Fund, which follows the World Bank and the International Fund Corporation IFC. Moreover, Nasr and Murrison discussed increasing fellowships for Egyptian students in British universities through the Newton-Mosharafa fund with £50 million, a seven-year science and innovation partnership between the UK and Egypt, and maximising cooperation in women's empowerment through the Women Support Fund. As for the transportation sector, Nasr highlighted the importance of Egyptian-British enhancement for such a vital sector on the investment and improvement levels alike, arising from its direct impact on improving the living standards. In the same vein, Murrison revealed that the UK is now working on the new generation of electric cars, praising the palpable improvement of economic indicators over the past period. "The UK is still a solid partner in supporting the inclusive economy [in Egypt], generating job opportunities and better services for all. The UK makes a point of enhancing cooperation with Egypt in various fields based on the historical relation between the two states. The current state of Egypt's economy encourages the British business community to inject more investments in Egypt," Murrison said. Source: Ahram Online
