Egypt and EU sign cooperation protocols

EU Egypt Task Force Business and Tourism Summits Cairo – Akram Ali The Egyptian government signed four cooperation protocols with the European Union on Monday. This included agreements to support small and medium sized enterprises, as well as a protocol to improve quality standards in the economy and support the Egyptian tourism.
Minister of Investment Osama Saleh said foreign and domestic investments will cover all of Egypt “so that every Egyptian citizen will feel as though the revolution achieved social justice.”
“Egypt after the revolution aims to establish economy and strive for stability and security. The European Union is an important partner for Egypt both economically and politically,” he said.
Saleh said the totally European investment in Egypt reached $15 billion and increased after the revolution by 742 million.
He said Egypt is one of the top three countries providing services to foreign investors and that the challenge Egypt is facing currently is the budget deficit and unemployment.
“People have suffered a great deal from these challenges, but we strive to fight them. We have high hope to be one the largest and successful economies in the world,” Saleh said.
He said some measures taken in 2011 led to an increase in the national income.
“We are trying to reduce the unemployment rate to get a growth rate of 5 percent in the coming years,” he said.
Saleh said previously foreign investors had to deal with broker to get their project done. However, since the January revolution this is no longer the case.
Businessman Mohamed Farid Khamis demanded the EU to cooperate and solve the crisis with Egyptian investors. He said: “The EU has the experience and we have the ability to manage capital, so let us work together." He said he invests in Greece, Italy, and Portugal adding: "We have begun to establish factories worth $480 million, and we want to combine our efforts to succeed."