The Minister of Investment and International Cooperation, Sahar Nasr, met with representatives of the Italian Export Credit Agency, SACE, and SIMEST, a company which supports the international development of Italian businesses. The meetings took place over her current visit to Italy in order to promote more investments to the Egyptian market. Italian investors affirmed their confidence in the Egyptian economy's outlook which supports the Italian companies' expansions plans, a Monday's ministerial statement said, adding that SIMEST seeks for more expansions of the European companies in Egypt, in addition to supporting the SMEs sector. The statement noted that SACE's portfolio in Egypt is worth €1.6bn, adding that SACE looks forward to inaugurating an office in Egypt in order to be a regional office covering the Middle East's countries. For her part, Nasr said that the ministry of investment and international cooperation (MIIC) supports entrepreneurship and SMEs activities, pointing out that the New Investment Law offers taxes incentives for the entrepreneurs in order to help them grow. She added that Egypt aims to attract more Italian investments to the country. "The are many success stories for Italian investments in Egypt which stand at about €4bn for over 1,024 firms working in the fields of infrastructure, gas, renewable energy, and others," she mentioned. SIMEST is the company of the Cassa depositi e prestiti Group, which has supported since 1991 the international development of Italian businesses. SIMEST is controlled by SACE, with shareholdings also held by leading Italian banks and industry associations.
