The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) and Egypt Healthcare Authority (EHA) are hard at work to boost co-operation for attracting more capital into Egypt’s healthcare sector.
GAFI CEO Mohamed Awad and Chairman of EHA Ahmed El Sobky, who is also General Supervisor of the Universal Health Insurance (UHI) Project, held major discussions on Monday.
The discussions come in response to directives by Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid to maximise the investment potential of state-owned assets, and support the country’s development goals, according to a ministry press release.
Co-operation between the two authorities would help accelerate the implementation of Egypt’s UHI System via enhancing the role of the private sector as a key partner in delivering healthcare services, El Sobky said.
The partnership would provide a range of mechanisms to promote investment opportunities in the sector, fostering greater collaboration between the public and private sectors for the benefit of Egyptian citizens, he added.
EHA aims to diversify investment models in the healthcare sector through public-private partnership agreements, management contracts, outsourcing arrangements, opportunities to establish and develop healthcare facilities, and the launch of a specialised investment fund for the construction, operation and management of healthcare facilities, El Sobky said.
These initiatives are intended to offer both domestic and international investors a wide range of investment opportunities while contributing to Egypt’s economic growth.
For his part, the GAFI chief said that his authority will lead efforts to promote healthcare investment partnerships in co-operation with EHA.
This will include featuring healthcare opportunities on Egypt’s international investment map through domestic and global promotional campaigns targeting leading healthcare service providers, while offering the most suitable investment frameworks for each partnership agreement to create new investment success stories in the healthcare sector, Awad explained.
Healthcare is among GAFI’s highest-priority sectors for investment promotion due to its strong attractiveness, readiness to receive investment, high commercial returns and alignment with Egypt’s sustainable development objectives, he noted.
The two sides agreed to establish a joint working group to coordinate these initiatives and prepare for the signing of a formal co-operation protocol to strengthen strategic collaboration between the two authorities.
