Sisi, Anastasiades inaugurate Egypt-Cyprus Business Forum

CAIRO – 21 November 2017: Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades inaugurated on Monday the Egypt-Cyprus Business Forum that aims to activate bilateral economic and trade relations, and explore mutual investment opportunities.

Sisi has arrived to the Cypriot capital, Nicosia, on Monday morning for a two-day visit to take part in the fifth tripartite summit with his Greek and Cypriot counterparts.

The two Mediterranean leaders signed several Memoranda of Understanding in the fields of security, communication, medicine and business. In a subsequent press conference, Anastasiades welcomed President Sisi and said that the two countries share strong historic ties.


Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades - Press Photo
Sisi said that they discussed several issues including boosting economic relations. He added that holding the Egypt-Cyprus Business Forum will help to boost communications between businessmen in the two countries.

Sisi pointed out that the Egyptian economy has faced a number of challenges and structural problems, in addition to successive political developments. "Therefore, the government has launched a serious economic reform program since 2014, addressing structural and financial imbalances, and announced a new ambitious strategy to achieve sustainable development by 2030," he added.

"As a result of the internal economic reforms, the Egyptian GDP increased by four percent over the past two years, the country’s foreign currency reserves recorded $36 billion, an average of 700,000 job opportunities were created annually, and the budget deficit decreased by 1.1 percent in the current fiscal year," Sisi stressed.

He further added that the parliament has issued the new Investment Law recently, presenting a set of important reforms to improve the investment atmosphere. The new law would facilitate investment procedures and establish a central unit to issue all required licenses for different projects.


Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades - Press Photo
The parliament also issued the new Civil Service Law that aims to create an incentive system of production and develop wage system, in addition to the value-added tax (VAT) law to expand the tax base.

The president asserted that the government currently works on accomplishing “Egypt's investment map,” that would guide businessmen to available investment opportunities in the country, and present the most important incentives offered for these projects.

In the past two years, Egypt has witnessed the launch of some major projects, including the development of the Suez Canal axis, the New Administrative Capital and a number of new cities across Egypt. These projects offer promising investment opportunities in many fields, such as infrastructure, construction, mining, information technology, industry, transport, energy and renewable energy.

With the start of natural gas production from Egypt’s new gas fields, notably Zohr and Noras, the country will be able to provide the required electricity for various investment projects. Egypt expects a 30 percent increase in its gas production in 2018, at 55 billion cubic meters, up from 42-43 billion cubic meters in 2017.

Sisi noted that Egypt, with its population and economy worth about $330 billion in 2016, represents a real promising market in different fields, not to mention being the main gateway to a huge regional market in the Middle East and the African continent.
“In this context, we rely on our meeting today to lay the first stone for more economic cooperation between the two countries in trade, industry and technology,” Sisi stated.

For his part, Anastasiades revealed that Egypt and Cyprus have signed 38 agreements in various fields, expressing his desire to boost bilateral ties in the coming period.


Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi and his Cypriot counterpart Nicos Anastasiades - Press Photo
Also, Sisi praised the military cooperation between Egypt and Cyprus in the last three years. In November 2015, Egypt and Cyprus have signed their first military cooperation agreement. In December 2016, Egyptian Navy and Air Force participated in joint military exercises named “Medusa 2016” with Greek forces, in Greece.

Lately, Egypt has headed toward strengthening ties with Greece and Cyprus. Sisi visited Greece in December 2015 in a three-day visit during which he discussed with his Greek counterpart boosting bilateral relations and enhancing economic ties between the two countries.

In October 2016, the fourth round of the trilateral summit between Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece was held in Cairo. As a result of the summit, the three countries agreed to work on the implementation of projects in the fields of energy, maritime transport, tourism, and agriculture.

The summit also included discussions on the illegal immigration crisis and the constant flow of refugees streaming from conflict areas across the region.