Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed - File Photo
CAIRO – 9 December 2020: The establishment of the Egyptian Sovereign Fund came within the framework of the Egyptian state’s plan to achieve sustainable development (Egypt Vision 2030), and what this requires in terms of increasing the volume of investments and diversifying sources of financing, according to the Minister of Planning Hala el-Saeed.
El-Saeed clarified that there was a need to create a large economic entity capable of, through partnership with local and international companies and institutions, to increase investment, operation and optimal use of state assets and resources to maximize their value and give a strong impetus to development and preserving the rights of future generations.
She added that Egypt's sovereign fund seeks to create wealth for future generations by maximizing the benefit from the inherent value of exploited and unexploited assets in Egypt and achieving sustainable financial surpluses, by designing unique investment products.
This came during El-Saeed and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Egypt Sovereign Fund's meeting, with a number of senior writers and journalists, regarding the objectives of the fund and the main features of the law establishing the fund; in the presence of Executive Director of the Fund Ayman Soliman.
“The fund also aims to achieve sustainable financial returns in the long term, through a balanced and diversified portfolio, designed in a way that strikes the optimum balance between returns and risks,” the minister added.
In addition to these financial goals, the fund seeks to achieve a positive social and economic impact on the level of all investments, the minister added.
El-Saeed pointed out that the Fund will achieve these goals by taking advantage of a unique portfolio of opportunities related to assets in Egypt, which are opportunities that can be transformed into suitable products for investors, in addition to stimulating local, regional and international investors and operators to invest in priority sectors through these products, which will generate wealth by maximizing the operational return as well as developing new and existing projects. “These opportunities also enhance the flexibility and independence of the Fund.”
The Planning Minister indicated that the fund is working proactively to identify the assets most likely to maximize value through private ownership and capital, and the fund also arranges those assets according to priority, in addition to cooperating with investors and operators in order to prepare investment structures that meet their investment requirements and standards.
According to the minister, the priorities of the fund’s investment plan are to maximize the return from state assets, localize industry and technology, and the possibility of managing assets to develop them and maximize their returns, while attracting investors from inside Egypt and abroad. She noted that the fund has succeeded in attracting investors and partners from home and abroad and signing agreements to enter in multiple partnerships, despite the economic challenges that have occurred in the recent period, we have witnessed the start of the investment activity of the Fund and the conclusion of investment partnerships on all frameworks locally, regionally and internationally.
“At the local level, two investment cooperation agreements were signed last November between the Fund and each of the Ministry of Public Business Sector and the National Investment Bank to maximize the use of some of the assets owned by them and work to inject investments from the private sector, and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Fund, and Hassan Allam Holding Company, in order to inject direct and indirect joint investments, in projects in the sectors of electricity, water, infrastructure and renewable energy,” she stated.
She added that the fund signed a cooperation agreement with the National Service Authority in February 2020 to participate in the investment in the assets owned by the agency, noting the importance of the role the state plays in supporting the business and investment environment, especially in times of crises, by creating competitive entities with the aim of increasing the country's productive capacity and providing citizens' needs, and is now being exited and put to the private sector to complete the development process and expand those investments locally and internationally.
The Minister explained that the fund has established a group of sub-funds specialized in various fields, including a sub-fund for various health services, a sub-fund for infrastructure and infrastructure, a sub-fund for financial services and digital transformation, in addition to a sub-fund for tourism and real estate investment.
El-Saeed added that the fund is currently working on several projects in a range of different sectors, especially the sectors that are now in priority in light of the repercussions of the new coronavirus to include the various health services sector and the latest developments of strategic warehouse projects, in addition to targeted investments in the agricultural sector, food processing, infrastructure sector, and digital transformation, as the fund focuses on the localization of the industry.
She noted that the establishment of the Egyptian National Company for Railway Industries is a real step to support and implement the general direction of the state and its political leadership regarding the deepening and localization of the railway industry in Egypt, especially the mobile units in a way that secures the state’s requirements of mobile units, and increases capacity.
“The founding contract of the company was signed on November 24, 2020, to be established in East Port Said,” she clarified
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