CAIRO: Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid, and Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, will today lead senior representatives of Egypt's and Britain's largest companies in a discussion of training and education in Egypt, at the biannual meeting of the Egyptian British Business Council (EEBC) taking place in Cairo today. This month's EEBC meeting, held under the auspices of Minister Rachid and the Duke of York, takes the form of an "education roundtable to discuss the role that Egyptian businesses and their British counterparts can play in promoting vocational training and skills development in Egypt. The meeting will specifically discuss the outcome of the first vocational training program to be delivered in joint cooperation between the EEBC and Egypt's Industrial Training Council. The program provides advanced management training to representatives of Small and Medium Enterprises operating in Egyptian industry and will hold a graduation ceremony for its first 60 candidates tomorrow, Jan. 15, to coincide with Prince Andrew's visit. The United Kingdom's total investments in Egypt amount to LE 8.36 billion ($1.52 billion) in inland investments and $736 million in free zone investments. Their main investment sectors are energy, food industries, building materials, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals. The UK had ranked first on the list of foreign countries, other than Arab countries, that have direct investments in Egypt, but was recently overtaken by France after their recent Lafarge cement deal worth 8.8 billion euros.
