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​Hossam Heiba, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), met with a number of investment organizations and entities and a group of Emirati companies to discuss investing in Egypt or expanding their current investments, on the sidelines of the activities of the Annual Investment Forum (AIM 2023) in its 12th edition. AIM 2023 is being held under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Executive Council, during the period from May 8 to 10, 2023, under the slogan "The Investment Paradigm Shift: Future Investment Opportunities to Foster Sustainable Economic Growth, Diversity and Prosperity”.  Moreover, Mr. Heiba received GAFI’s Award, as GAFI won the award for attracting the best investment project in MENA.

In addition, GAFI CEO met with representatives of a number of companies, agencies and official organizations, including: 

- IFFCO Company

- Oacis Company

- Abu Dhabi Capital Group

- Aqua Fun Company

- RAK Chamber of Commerce and Industry

- Fujairah Free Zone

- Chalhoub Group

- Al Rabie Company

- WAIPA Organization

- UNCTAD

- World Economic Forum

- Moscow Agency of Innovations

- Dubai FDI

During those meetings, aspects of joint cooperation were discussed, as well as investment opportunities in Egypt; ways to enhance joint economic cooperation with investors in the emirates of Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah; putting cooperation into action through economic integration projects between Egypt and the UAE; and oil storage projects were tackled. Moreover, a number of factories within the Free Zone were visited. The two sides agreed to organize an Egyptian-Emirati forum, as well as a visit of a delegation from the Chamber and the Free Zone to Egypt during the coming period.

The meetings also discussed with the representatives of the companies their plans to invest in Egypt or their expansion plans. They encompassed a review of the key developments in the investment climate in Egypt, the key economic indicators, and the measures taken by the government with the aim of creating a favorable business environment in Egypt, the most important of which are as follows:

• Establish the Golden License Unit to grant the golden license to companies that are incorporated to set up strategic or national projects that contribute to the achievement of development;

• Provide and allocate lands to investors in the field of industry, where a governmental committee was formed to facilitate all the procedures;

• Develop the infrastructure, since Egypt witnessed during the last period an unprecedented boom in the field of infrastructure, which was prepared to receive huge and diversified investments in a sustainable manner;

• Approve the State Ownership Document, which aims to set a clear and specific regulatory framework to enhance the participation of the private sector; 

• List a number of State-owned companies in the Egyptian Stock Exchange through public offerings programme, with the aim of revitalizing the capital markets, emphasizing the government's interest in solving the challenges related to the exchange rate and the repatriation of profit overseas;

• Establish a unit at the Council of Ministers, whose scope of work is to quickly solve investors’ challenges; and

• Update on a continuous basis the investment opportunities available on Egypt's Investment Map.

GAFI CEO participated, as a spokesperson, in four sessions during the Conference under the theme “The road to global investment forum 2023”, “Attracting high-quality FDI for economic growth”, “Digital transformation of financial sectors in the Arab world and the role of financial technology in economic diversification”, and “Development of FDI climate and the role of investment promotion agencies”. In these sessions, many inquiries were answered about Egypt's vision toward creating a business environment to attract more FDI and achieve sustainable development goals.