CAIRO: An Egyptian delegation is currently in Bahrain marketing investments in Egypt worth $2.54 billion in diverse sectors, with an emphasis on the tourism and industrial sectors such as petrochemicals and fertilizers, agriculture and services, according to the Ministry of Investment. One of the chief priorities under the government's investment umbrella is the modernization of the industrial sector, with the aim of placing Egyptian industrial products on the global map by making the industrial sector more competitive. According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, approximately 70 percent of total industrial exports are non-petroleum commodities, with only around two percent being exported, leaving a great deal of room for more exports. Realizing the export potential in non-oil sectors to the global market, the government has been going around the globe to promote investments in Egypt in such sectors. An Egyptian tourism road show "caravan has found its way to Bahrain, where an Egyptian delegation comprised of 40 officials and leading figures from the Ministry of Tourism, heads of tourism chambers, in addition to a number of companies and hotel directors specializing in tourism, is promoting tourism investment opportunities between the two countries. Egypt and Bahrain's most strategic bilateral cooperation dates back to 1992, when the two countries signed an agreement to establish a joint committee chaired by the foreign ministers to follow up the implementation of bilateral agreements, the development of bilateral cooperation, in addition to consultation and coordination in various fields. The committee held four sessions, with the last one taking place in December 2004, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Joint Businessmen Council was established according to the recommendation of the third session of the Egyptian-Bahraini Joint Committee in 1999. The Egyptian and Bahraini Exporters Associations signed a cooperation agreement to promote commercial cooperation between the two countries. Egypt also signed one of its most important treaties, the Joint Investment Encouragement and Protection Treaty with Bahrain, one of the 84 countries included, as an incentive to encourage and promote investments in Egypt from foreign countries. According to the estimates of the Egyptian General Authority for Investment and Free Zones, Bahraini investments in Egypt span various industries including steel, ready-made clothing and contracting. The caravan to Bahrain is one of many heading to Gulf States to promote Arab tourism in Egypt, with targets including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar as well as Libya, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia. The Bahraini caravan is part of an overall government scheme to open up communication channels between Egyptian businessmen and their counterparts in the tourism industry in order to boost further investments in this Egyptian cash-cow industry. According to the head of the Egyptian delegation, Al Sayed Mihrez, tourism undersecretary, 15,000 Bahraini tourists visited Egypt last year, out of a total of 8.6 million visitors from all over the world. Mihrez said the Egyptian delegation s current visit to Bahrain aims at acquainting Bahraini investors with the investment opportunities available in Egypt's growing tourism sector, whose infrastructure is being developed to include a number of mega-projects by the private sector in the process of being launched or constructed to lure greater foreign direct investments in the country. Arab tourism is a priority in the Egyptian tourist development plan, as it constitutes between 18-20 percent of the total tourists coming to the country, according to Mihrez. In industrial sectors, the Industrial Development Authority, which has focused its attention on the southern valley and Sinai governorates as top priority locations in which to attract new investments, has announced that they have reached agreements with several multinational companies to establish industrial projects at an investment cost worth LE 10 billion in Alexandria and LE 28 billion in Port Said, according to Al Alam Al Youm. The projects will invest LE 3.8 billion in cement production and LE 1.8 billion in steel production, in addition to establishing 1,700 small factories at an investment cost ranging from LE 50,000 to LE 1 million for each factory.
