Egypt and Bahrain are keen to strengthen their economic partnership. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, attended the Egyptian-Bahraini Joint Committee meeting here and stressed the close ties between the two nations. The meeting, chaired by Ahmed Kouchouk, Egypt's Minister of Finance and Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Minister of Finance and National Economy, included representatives from both governments and the private sector. Trade between Egypt and Bahrain reached around $661.4m in 2024, according to Al-Mashat. Bahraini investments in Egypt span various sectors, including finance, manufacturing, construction, agriculture, tourism, services, communications, and IT. Egyptian investments in Bahrain are primarily focused on real estate and tourism. Egypt welcomes Bahraini investors, offering numerous opportunities and promoting partnerships in entrepreneurship and start-ups, a key area of focus for the Egyptian government. Al-Mashat acknowledged the complex political, developmental, and economic challenges facing the Arab region, and the global context of geopolitical tensions and declining development indicators. She emphasized the need for more equitable and efficient global financing systems. Amidst these global developments, joint committees like this provide an essential platform for dialogue, knowledge sharing, and mutual benefit. Al-Mashat highlighted Egypt's efforts to maintain macroeconomic stability, improve the business environment, and pursue ambitious development goals outlined in Egypt Vision 2030, its national sustainable development plan. The ministry, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, plans to launch the second phase of Sustainable Development Goals Localization reports for Egyptian governorates. The Ministry of Planning is developing a comprehensive plan to foster sustainable growth, macroeconomic stability, and job creation by focusing on improving the business environment, supporting tradable sectors, adopting fiscal and monetary policies, and overseeing public investments to encourage private sector growth. Egypt continues implementing economic and structural reforms launched in 2016 to enhance economic competitiveness, improve the business environment, strengthen macroeconomic resilience, support green transition, and promote inclusive and sustainable development. Key areas of focus include macroeconomic stability, diversifying the production structure, increasing competitiveness, supporting green transition, and improving the labour market and vocational training. These efforts have yielded positive results, with the non-oil manufacturing sector leading growth, private sector investment reaching 63% of total investments in the first quarter of the current fiscal year, and the Purchasing Managers' Index for January 2025 reaching a four-year high. Al-Mashat reviewed trends in inflation, remittances from Egyptians working abroad, foreign direct investment, tourism revenue, and foreign exchange reserves. The Egyptian labour market added around one million jobs in 2023, with manufacturing accounting for approximately 255,000 new positions. Egypt's economic growth recovered in the last quarter of 2023/2024 and continued into the first quarter of 2024/2025, driven by improvements in manufacturing, electricity, and the banking sector. Continued improvement is expected, supported by government measures. Egypt is continuing structural reforms by implementing good governance practices, improving investment efficiency, and setting a public investment ceiling of one trillion Egyptian pounds for 2024/2025, targeting 50% private sector investment. Egypt is working with the World Bank to stimulate growth amidst global challenges. A key component of this collaboration is Egypt's green transition agenda, aiming to increase green public investments to 50% by 2025. In September 2024, Egypt launched the national integrated strategy for financing for development (E-INFS) to mobilize and align financing with national priorities. Since 2020, Egypt has secured more than $14.5bn in concessional development financing from multilateral and bilateral partners, supporting strategic sectors such as renewable energy, SMEs, transport, industry, agriculture, and trade. Egypt is committed to diversifying energy sources, improving efficiency, and becoming a regional energy export hub.
