CAIRO: Egyptian businessmen are requesting to activate investments incentives and insurance law no. 8 from the 1997 request. The request will be presented to Egyptian Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Ayman Farid Abu Hadid, and central authority for investments and free zones, Osama Saleh. Egyptian businessmen aim to increase trade exchanges and job opportunities, which will decrease rates of unemployment. Businessmen in the agricultural field demand getting export advantages like those given to Saudi businessman, Al-Walid bin Talal. Investments incentive and insurance give exporters 200 acres of land in order to cultivate them and export products aboard. This will increase Egyptian funds, capitals and trade exchange, according to chairman of the National Development for import and export company, Zine el Abidine Fouad. "The Cabinet can allocate land to companies free of charge, but with 200 EGP fees per acre as usufruct," said a member of the investment authority, Shrief Sami. "This law however was stopped because there aren't any vacant land to be allocated in the investment authority." Sami added the investment authority does not have the right to allocate land. 90 percent of land in Egypt belongs to the Ministry of Agriculture. The rest 10 percent is divided among other Egyptian Ministries. "The investment authority can not encourage investors to carry out their activities because they do not have the right to allocate land," said Sami. Sami also said local and foreigner investors are at a disadvantage of decreasing taxes and customs. He added legal procedures to allocate a piece of land are going through a very slowly process.
