Minister of Emigration and Expatriate Affairs Soha Al-Gendy met with Mohamed Farid — Chairperson of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) — on Saturday in the presence of a number of executive leaders from both the ministry and the authority. The two sides discussed cooperating in creating investment opportunities for Egyptian expats in their homeland in a number of areas that are commensurate with their interests and the ministry's strategy, while discussing how to motivate them to increase their investment participation. Al-Gendy said that the meeting aims to discuss the investment axis, which was among the recommendations of the third conference of Egyptian entities abroad. The conference focused on the establishment of an Egyptian joint stock company in order to allow Egyptian expats to invest in major national projects or invest their money in them and find advantages that encourage them to transfer their savings to Egypt. She added that the ministry is preparing a plan that aims to provide opportunities for Egyptians abroad to enable them to invest in their homeland, stressing that executive steps are being taken to inventory all applicable facilities with the development of various incentives for Egyptian citizens abroad. Also, steps were taken to launch the first electronic application that includes all services provided to Egyptian expats in cooperation with all concerned parties and will also include all the privileges that will be made available to them during the coming period. Al-Gendy explained that the pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian War, and the effects of climate change have begun to cast a shadow on daily life in all countries of the world, which has resulted in an interest from Egyptian expats to invest in their homeland's development. For his part, Farid said that the FRA welcomes all aspects of cooperation with the ministry, especially in supporting its efforts to provide investment opportunities that help increase remittances of Egyptians abroad and enhance their participation in the investment projects that the Egyptian government is currently working on. The two sides also welcomed the presence of brokerage companies and investment managers licensed by the authority to make an inventory of all investment opportunities available in the stock market, including listed shares for companies operating in different economic and productive sectors between the real estate, education, and health sectors. In a related context, Ramy El-Dokany — Head of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX) — said that the communication process will be coordinated between the ministry and representatives of brokerage companies and investment managers in order to discuss how to review the most important investment opportunities offered by the Egyptian stock market. He pointed out that EGX continues to cooperate with the ministry to complete programmes to raise the levels of awareness and knowledge of Egyptians abroad about the basics of investment and saving through the stock market, as well as familiarising them with the requirements for opening an account and starting an investment.
