2 pharmaceutical companies to inject $128M in Egyptian market

CAIRO – 31 May 2017: Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr mulled with representatives of two international pharmaceutical companies working in Egypt the injection of $128 million investments within the coming period.

The discussion was part of a large meeting that was attended by representatives of Sanofi, Novartis Egypt, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and PhRMA, the Ministry of Investment said in a Wednesday statement.

The directors of Pfizer and Sanofi said their companies seek to inject $50 million and €70 ($78 million) respectively, while the director of Novartis Egypt noted that the investments of his Swiss-based drugs company in Egypt have registered $60 million.

The attendees in general voiced desire to increase their companies' investments in Egypt, lauding in this regard the measures taken by Cairo in order to improve the business climate, the latest of which was passing the investment law by the House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, the minister said Egypt is an open market for investments, noting that the new investment law includes a set of incentives for investors.

Separately, Nasr held another meeting with Abdullah al-Nuqrashi, the Director-General of Majid Al-Futtaim Group, during which Nuqrashi said the group seeks to expand Carrefour branches across Egypt as part of its investment plan.

On that score, the minister affirmed that the Ministry of Investment supports investors and coordinates with various state institutions in order to facilitate all procedures and remove any obstacles facing them.