Saudi Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih said in a meeting with Egyptian government officials on Thursday that "the Kingdom has a direction to increase the investments of the Saudi Public Investment Fund in Egypt... and a direction to convert our deposits in Egypt into investments."
He added that for two days, the Saudi side has been working in El Alamein City in what resembles a "beehive" with the concerned Egyptian ministers, in order to discuss many common files that will contribute to pushing bilateral relations to broader horizons, according to a statement from the Egyptian Cabinet.
Regarding Saudi investments in Egypt, Al-Falih said that the Kingdom is the largest investor in Egypt, adding: "I will work in cooperation with my colleague, the Egyptian Minister of Investment, to give these investments a greater opportunity to double them, and encourage Saudi investors to expand their existing investments."
The Saudi Minister of Investment continued, saying: "We view Egypt as a complement to the Kingdom, and also as a promising market, and an important platform for exporting to countries in the region," noting that all these factors make us work to increase our investments in Egypt.
He added: "We have directives from the Saudi leadership that we are a partner to Egypt in a way that achieves the interests of the two peoples."
According to Mutab Al-Shathri, a representative of the Saudi Public Investment Fund, the fund's companies have investments in Egypt worth about $3 billion, according to a statement from the Egyptian Cabinet.
During the meeting, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that the governments of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are currently working seriously to raise the rates of joint investments.
Madbouly added: "We are keen as a government to push bilateral relations between the two countries in all fields to higher levels," stressing that cooperation to increase joint investments is a priority for the two countries.
He pointed out that the Egyptian government has succeeded in solving 70 percent of the problems of Saudi investors.
Madbouly continued: "We are keen to follow up on everything related to Saudi investments in Egypt, and I direct to facilitate all procedures related to them, which contributes to attracting more new investments, and this is a general trend from the Egyptian government during this stage."
Madbouly referred to the "Agreement to Protect and Encourage Mutual Investments between the two countries," explaining that he is keen, in cooperation with the relevant ministers, to quickly put the final touches on the agreement, which will contribute significantly to increasing the rates of joint investment between Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to the statement.
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