‘For the Love of Egypt' is Al-Sisi's arm in the parliament: El-Yazal

British tourists to get back to Egypt within weeks, depending on positive security reports by UK

By Mohamed Ayyad and Ahmed El-Adly
Members of the For Love of Egypt List, which acquired about 120 seats in 2015 parliament, will not oppose the policies of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and will support him, said Rapporteur-General Sameh Seif El-Yazal.
However, he asserted that he would oppose the government in the parliament.
Deciding whether to keep on the government or not will be determined by the strength of the programme that will be presented to the parliament, El-Yazal, who comes from a military background, told Daily News Egypt on the sidelines of the conference held by the British Egyptian Business Association (BEBA) on Wednesday. "We will not back individuals, we will back programmes," he said.
The current government is preparing a comprehensive developmental programme to present to the parliament, which will determine whether or not it will survive.
El-Yazal asserted that For the Love of Egypt has formed a committee concerned with the economic and investment affairs in Egypt.
The committee will supply list members with economic legislations that require reviewing. "All the legislations ruling and regulating the economy will be revised in the parliament," said El-Yazal.
He added that the list, which is the largest alliance in the next parliament, will demand easing controls on foreign exchange transfers, especially since all foreign companies operating in Egypt suffer from significant difficulty in transferring their profits.
As for candidate Tahani Al-Gebali's accusations against the list, that it conspires with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in favour of the US, El-Yazal said the claim is false and seeks to prevent the list from acquiring a significant number of votes.
"We will not file judicial complaints against her, even though she breached the electoral silence. However, the persons who were accused are ready to give testimony in front of the Public Prosecution if needed," he said.
El-Yazal, who heads the BEBA, said he met with British Ambassador John Casson Wednesday morning, asserting that British tourists will come back to Egypt within a few weeks, depending on positive security reports issued by British investigators who visited Egypt in the last period.
According to El-Yazal, two missions, one Scottish and one English, will visit Egypt in the first half of the next year to study a number of investment projects in various economic sectors and activities.
He revealed that four international companies are interest in pumping investments in the retail sector in Egypt with over EGP 1.5bn. El-Yazal added that the companies conducted discussions with Egyptian officials in the past months.
According to El-Yazal, BEBA is coordinating with Reuters news agency to hold a huge investment conference hosting international investors to present the reality of the Egyptian economy and the recent reforms.
The conference would also discuss new investments, and prepare a door-knocking mission led by BEBA to move next November to meet the representatives of the business community in Britain, the biggest non-Arab investor in Egypt.
"British investors demand fixing the taxes and customs regulations," added El-Yazal, asserting that BEBA is interested in discussing improving the labour laws with the government.