The Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, praised the distinguished ties between Egypt and the U.A.E; supported by the understanding from leaders of both countries, as he met with the new U.A.E Ambassador to Egypt, Mohammed bin Nakhira Al Dhahiri.
"President Mubarak is keen to increase U.A.E investments in Egypt," Dr. Mohieldin told the meeting attended by Sheikh Himdan bin Zayed, CEO of UAE Dahra Agricultural Co., Osama Saleh, head of the General Authority for Investment (GAFI) and officials from the Ministry of Investment.
Dr. Mohieldin is commited to communicating with world countries' ambassadors to Egypt in order to boost economic and investment relations and to showcase the investment opportunities and investment climate developments in Egypt.
The U.A.E diplomat emphasized the importance of boosting bilateral economic relations by increasing joint investments and benefiting from their extraordinary political relations.
Dr. Mohieldin also emphasized the power of the U.A.E economy. He believes U.A.E corporations can withstand the contingent crisis they are currently facing, thanks to U.A.E's diverse sources of income and growth and its concern with investing in various projects like infrastructure and human elements like education and healthcare.
The meeting also discussed how to stimulate investment in agriculture and food processing and how to encourage the already-existing projects.
It also referred to the recent collaboration in renewable energy and the U.A.E land reclamation projects in East Owainat and Toshka, in addition to the U.A.E's diverse investments in Egypt in the areas of infrastructure, real estate and agricultural.
Dr. Mohieldin reviewed the most important investment opportunities in Egypt. in which the U.A.E can invest, especially projects on both sides of the Upper Egypt-Red Sea Road and the Red Sea ports development projects.
On his part, the U.A.E official highlighted the efforts exerted by the government to develop the Red Sea ports, which play an important role in stimulating trade between Arab and Asian countries on the one hand and Western countries on the other.
The UAE side is prepared to invest in the projects of developing the Port of Safaga, as the U.A.E has great investments in the Sokhna Port.
Egypt has 475 U.A.E companies currently in operation, 53 percent of which were established in the last five years.
In closing, Minister Mohieldin offered his condolences to the U.A.E ambassador on the death of His Royal Highness Sheikh Mubarak bin Mohammed Al Nahyan.