Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said the government aims to attract foreign and local investments worth $30bn to the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) over the next five years. Nasr added that the ministry is cooperating with the SCZone in order to attract these investments in sectors of infrastructure and utilities, thus providing about 1 million direct and indirect jobs. This came during the speech of the minister at the session of the simulation model of the Egyptian state on Monday evening at the Youth Conference held in Alexandria, in the presence of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. Moreover, the minister said she will visit Singapore in August, with the participation of Mohab Mamish, head of the SCZone, to promote the region's most important investment opportunities. She also added that the ministry is working to attract investments in a number of major projects such as the New Administrative Capital. Nevertheless, the minister pointed out that her ministry is coordinating with the Ministry of Housing on the offer of the China Fortune Land Development (CFLD) to invest in the capital's infrastructure and the implementation and planning, design, and construction of an integrated city on an area of 63 square km. By the fifth year, the new integrated city is expected to attract cumulative inflows of foreign direct investments (FDI) of $6.7bn and provide 160,000 jobs, according to Nasr. The minister stressed that the ministry is working to attract foreign investments to support the Egyptian economy and stimulate the production wheel in order to provide job opportunities for youth and reduce unemployment rates and increase the incomes of citizens, which is the main objective for increasing investment in Egypt. Nasr clarified that the grants obtained by the ministry from Egypt's development partners are directed to the establishment of projects in the governorates that are most in need, in order to support them and provide job opportunities to their citizens.
Meanwhile the ministry is moving quickly to solve any problems or obstacles facing the investors, explaining that the service "Incorporate Yourself " is through the website of the General Authority For Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), without having to go to the investors' service centres, according to Nasr. She also stated that the new service received a request to establish two companies, which makes them optimistic.
