President chairs 1st meeting of Supreme Investment Council

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said on Tuesday that the state is keen to take the necessary, serious and decisive measures to achieve a real breakthrough in attracting, encouraging and promoting domestic and foreign investment, eliminating bureaucracy and overcoming various challenges to boost private sector investments.

The president’s remarks came as he chaired the first meeting of the Supreme Investment Council after its restructuring. The meeting was attended by Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli, Central Bank Governor Hassan Abdullah as well as a host of ministers, senior officials and representatives of the private sector, Presidency Spokesman Ahmed Fahmy said.

The president noted that these measures aim at achieving comprehensive economic development. He also stressed the importance of building on recent positive steps taken in this regard.

The president directed the government to work on implementing the adopted decisions as soon as possible, and according to a specific and announced timetable.

For his part, Madbouli apprised the president on the most important indicators and facts related to investment in Egypt, the measures that have recently been taken to improve the investment environment, ways to double private sector investments and proposals to provide incentives and facilities to create an attractive climate for investments in various sectors.

The Supreme Investment Council approved 22 important decisions in various economic sectors and fields to achieve a quantum leap in reducing the cost of establishing companies, removing the restrictions imposed on incorporation, the required approvals and the period for obtaining them as well as facilitating land ownership, expanding the issuance of the golden licence as well as strengthening governance, transparency and competitiveness in the Egyptian market.

The measures also aim to facilitate the import of production requirements and reduce financial and tax burdens on investors, stimulating domestic and foreign investment, expanding the jurisdiction of economic courts.

This comes in addition to providing an integrated and competitive package of incentives and facilities in the agricultural, industrial, and energy sectors with regard to green hydrogen production, the housing sector and real estate developers and investment projects in new cities.