The French ambassador to Cairo, Stéphane Romatet, said his embassy will launch a campaign in France to promote investment in Egypt next March. “Egypt has exerted great economic reform efforts, helping it to be one of the biggest countries in the Mediterranean region in terms of growth rates,” the ambassador said in an exclusive statement to Daily News Egypt, during a ceremony held by Atout France, the national French tourism development agency, to launch france.fr the official Arabic website dedicated for France as a destination. Romatet explained that the French embassy is coordinating with Egyptian partners to attract foreign investments in different sectors, especially energy. He noted that the French investments in Egypt amount to about €4bn, and the number of French companies operating in Egypt are about 160 companies, while the trade exchange reached about €2bn at the end of last year. The ambassador revealed that French President Emmanuel Macaron will visit Cairo within a few weeks. Romatet said that France supports Egypt and tells its European partners that the Egyptian government is on the right track in terms of economic and social reform. Egypt used to receive more than 1 million visitors from France annually before 2011, but this number declined over the past years. The ambassador expected that French tourism will flourish again in Egypt following the political stability and security experienced in Egypt over recent years. The number of French tourists who visited Egypt so far this year reached about 150,000 people. Karim Mekachera, regional director of Atout France in the Middle East, said France targets about 100 million tourists in 2020 from Arab countries. He added that Arab tourists are characterised by a spending rate, especially those from Arab Gulf countries, with an average spending of about $3,000 per night. The ambassador said that one of the French charter airlines will launch a flight line from Lyon to Hurghada as of next year.
