Egyptian the Minister of Investment Announces the Best Investment Project Initiative

The Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr has announced the launch of an initiative for selecting the best investment projects that carry out social development activities, within the framework of activating corporate social responsibility, given that the call will be open on 30 June 2018.

During her inauguration of the 4th Annual Conference for Corporate Social Responsibility, the Minister mentioned that a workforce was formed to activate Article 15 of the Investment Law which tackles companies’ social role, according to directives of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during his visit to the Investor Service Center (ISC).

The Minister added that the initiative would include Tahya Misr Fund (TMF) and would cooperate with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), affiliated to the World Bank Group (WBG), the UN and the International Labor Organization (ILO) as well as companies playing the greatest social role in Egypt.

Moreover, the Minister pointed out that companies would be included in the initiative according to international standards and indicators of social responsibility while emphasizing the right of SMEs to join the initiative.

The government developed the new Investment Law and introduced amendments to the Companies Law in order to enhance the social responsibility and encourage the private sector to play a social role, indicated Dr. Nasr, noting that the Investment Law provided tax and non-tax incentives to support women and lagging regions.

As mentioned by Dr. Nasr, the new Investment Law and its Executive Regulations established clear clauses on investors’ social responsibility, namely the investor has the right to allocate no more than 10% of their net annual profit from deductible costs and expenses to contribute to developing a social development system through their participation in some areas (environmental protection and improvement- providing services or programs for health, social and cultural care- training and scientific research). As stated in the Investment Law, the competent minister may coordinate with line ministries to develop a list for the best investment projects that carry out social development activities either in the geographic or sectoral level, which will be announced to public opinion.

In addition, the Minister indicated that Egypt was proceeding towards the implementation of the economic reform plan, referring the significance of the private sector’s role and of the achievement of partnership with the government to increase economic growth. She stated that private investments increased by 24,2% and FDI net inflows increased during the fiscal year 2016\2017 by 14,5%, reflecting the continuous improvement of the Egyptian economic performance and the increase in incorporation rates during the third quarter of the fiscal year 2017\2018 by 77%.

MIIC supported companies investing in the most disadvantaged governorates and Sinai with more incentive, asserted Dr. Nasr, noting that there was great cooperation among associations working in the civil society field.