Tarek Tawfik, president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Cairo, said that a major US business delegation comprised of 43 American companies will visit Egypt on Tuesday, to explore prospective business opportunities in the country. Members of the delegation are scheduled to meet with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, along with the prime minister, and members of the economic ministerial group. Tawfik added that the visit of American companies to Egypt comes within the framework of periodic meetings organised every two years in cooperation between the AmCham, the Egypt-US Business Council (EUSBC), and the AmCham Egypt Inc. in the US. Among the companies that will participate in the delegation are Apache, the oil and gas giant, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo. The chamber said in a statement that the delegation will include leading US corporations represented through their global and regional senior executives, covering a range of economic industries and sectors. Representing the Department of Commerce as part of the delegation will be Acting Deputy Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade, Sarah Kemp. Moreover, the delegation will include senior representation from the US Trade Development Agency (USTDA), the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the Export-Import Bank of the US (Ex-Im), as well as various financial institutions. Members of the delegation are scheduled to meet with Al-Sisi, and attend a number of events jointly hosted by AmCham Egypt with its partners, which will include the prime minister and a number of ministerial panels, as well as 700 government officials. "Delegates will underscore the continued commitment and unwavering support of the American business community to Egypt's long-term stability, and economic development, as well as explore prospective business opportunities, " the statement indicated. Furthermore, according to the statement, this visit comes at a period when Egypt has gone through tough yet successful economic reform measures. These measures have contributed to increasing the level of economic growth to 5.2%, the highest reported during the last seven years. Additionally, the country has witnessed an elevated level of investments in infrastructure and energy projects. The Chamber said its legislative reform measures provided the basic mechanisms for expanding the activities of companies during the coming period. This led the international financial institutions, such as the IMF, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to praise the Egyptian economy, as well as improve its credit rating. According to the latest data from the Central Bank of Egypt, the US's total investment in Egypt during the first nine months of fiscal year (FY) 2017/18 accounted for about $ 1.6bn, while investments in FY 2016/17 amounted to about $1.8bn. Moreover, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the volume of trade between Egypt and the US in 2017 amounted to about $5.6bn, compared with $4.97bn in 2016, up by 13%.
