Mohieldin Receives Jordan's Prime Minister

Minister of Investment Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin received Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Al-Dahabi and his delegation at the Ministry's headquarters. Dr. Mohieldin highlighted the tasks and goals of the Ministry of Investment and the activities it has undertaken since beginning in July 2004.

The Jordanian official was accompanied by Jordan's Minister of Industry, Amer Al-Hadidi, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Khaldun Qteishat, Minister of Transportation, Sahl Al-Majaly, Jordan's Ambassador to Egypt, Hani Al-Mulki and Amman Stock Exchange CEO, Jalil Tarif.

The meeting was also attended by Egypt's Minister of Electricity and Energy, Hassan Yunis, as well as chiefs of authorities and associations affiliated to the Ministry of Investment. These include: The Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) head, Ziyad Baha' Eddin, the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) head, Osama Saleh, Egypt Stock Exchange (EGX) chairman, Maged Shawqi, the Real Estate Support & Guarantee Fund chairman, Mustafa Al Hayawan, the Holding Co. for Food Industries chairman, Ahmed Al Rakaybi, the Holding Company for Pharmaceutical Industries chairman, Magdi Hassan, the Holding Company for Tourism, Hotel & Cinema chairman, Ali Abdel Aziz, the Holding Company for Chemical Industries chairman, Adel Al Muzi, Insurance Holding Company chairman, Mahmoud Abdullah, the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries chairman, Zaki Basyuni and the National Construction Company chairman, Ahmed el Sayed.

The meeting was also attended by deputy heads of the affiliated authorities and a number of Ministry of Investment and GAFI officials.

The meeting was meant to let the Jordanians become acquainted with the tasks of the Ministry of Investment and affiliated bodies.

Minister Mohieldin reviewed the Ministry's agenda, highlighting the top tasks associated with encouraging and developing domestic and external investments and State-owned assets management, in addition to developing and following up the non-banking financial services, including backing and modernizing mortgage finance business and capital market through EGX, and developing the North-West Suez Gulf Economic Zone (SEZ).

The meeting tackled some issues such as the development of investment business in Egypt during the recent years to reach $13 billion in 2007/2008.

A number of South East Asia countries and Gulf countries joined the map of investment sources, alongside European and American countries.

In the same context, Dr. Mohieldin reviewed the mechanisms of developing and streamlining doing business in Egypt.

He also reviewed the company startup procedures facilitations at GAFI by enforcing a One Stop Shop system, enabling online company construction service, plus other developments for which Egypt, for 4 successive years, maintained its position among the world's top 10 reformers in the "Doing Business Report," released by the International Finance Corporation.

With regard to the State-owned assets management, the minister pointed to the success in financial restructuring processes in the public business sector companies; something which has enabled these companies to reduce their debts, pump new investments to carry out pro-development projects nationwide.

With regard to non-banking financial services, Dr. Mohieldin emphasized the Ministry's interest in upgrading the non-banking financial services, which include capital market activities, insurance, mortgage finance, financial leasing and factoring.

He said the objective was to raise the financial sector efficiency, sectoral competitiveness, the market capability of taking in modern financial services.

For this particular purpose, the Law 10 of 2009 was issued to set up the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority; its goals were discussed as well as it supervision over markets and non-banking financial instruments.

Regarding investment promotion by the Ministry of Investment, Dr. Mohieldin said there was great concern with promoting the investment opportunities available in the infrastructure fields, such as transportation, logistic services and utilities countrywide, Upper Egypt in particular.

He also pointed to the Ministry of Investment's program of encouraging and developing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and improving their chances to get financed.

In this context, Dr. Mohieldin alluded to establishing the Nile Stock Exchange – or Nilex for short – for SMEs. He also alluded to GAFI finalizing the procedures of launching the "Bidaya" – or Start – center to be qualifying these SMEs and activating their role in the Egyptian economy.

As for the role of the Egyptian Institute of Directors (EIoD) in energizing the principles of corporate governance and developing corporate social responsibility, Minister Mohieldin said an Egyptian indicator was launched, focusing on environmental, social and corporate governance criteria, with a view to achieving a connection between corporate strategies and State's pro-development goals.

Egyptian-Jordanian investment relations have developed remarkably in the last five years. Nearly 50% of total Egyptian companies with Jordanian contribution were set up in this period alone in the fields of industry, services, tourism and agriculture.