São Paulo – Egypt has 52 projects for public-private partnerships (PPPs) ready for tendering. According to the vice president at the Egyptian General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (Gafi), Neveen El Shafie, the prime minister of the country, Ahmed Nazif, has already authorised the opening of tenders that may be disputed by local and international companies.
According to her, all the projects are in the area of infrastructure, with construction of highways, ports and water transportation. "They are all infrastructure works," she said. PPPs are part of a plan for incentives to economic growth adopted by Egypt. Despite the crisis, the government believes that the country should grow at least 4% in the current fiscal year, which ends this month.
Yesterday (3rd), Neveen, the vice president of Cairo Exchange, Mohammed Omran, and other members of the Egyptian delegation that is in São Paulo to promote investment opportunities visited institutions like ABC Brazil bank, a subsidiary of the Arab Banking Corporation, headquartered in Bahrain, UBS Pactual bank, the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM), Coteminas, in the textile sector, and Schahin group, which belongs to the president at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Salim Schahin.
During the meeting at ABC, Omran said that his country is living a process of "aggressive financial reform and liberalisation". As one of the objectives of the mission is to attract Brazilian investment to Egypt, Sérgio Jacob and Angela Martins, executives at ABC, explained that the bank recently created a division for mergers and acquisition of companies and it may aid in the promotion of international partnerships, especially in the Arab world, due to the institution’s origin.
Neveen added that, apart from PPPs, foreign companies may invest in projects that are 100% their won in the Arab country, even in the area of infrastructure. She mentioned that, historically, between 60% and 70% of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) entering Egypt was in the field of oil and gas, but in recent years they have been turned, mostly, to the sectors of information and communication’s technology, banking, tourism, textiles and agriculture. In 2008, however, when the price of the barrel of oil reached US$ 150, there was expansion of investment in the area.
At UBS Pactual, the Egyptians spoke to executives Olavo Tortelli and Ricardo Lutfalla, who spoke about the current conditions of the Brazilian economy. According to them, there are good signs of recovery in industries like building and the auto sector, and foreign investors have returned to investing heavily in the capital markets. The Egyptians were greatly interested in the resistance of the Brazilian economy to the international crisis.
Omran declared that the Egyptian Stock Exchange also presents "many options for investment" and that her organisation has been trying to attract capital from Asia, the Pacific and, now, Latin America. At the CVM, topics discussed with managers Waldir de Jesus Nobre, Eduardo José Busato, Marcos Lorena Dutra and Luciana Pereira Costa included regulation of the Brazilian market.
Part of the Egyptian delegation also met with companies in the field of auto parts at the Arab Brazilian Chamber. There, the head of the investment promotion department at Gafi, Mohamed Rizk, and the head of the planning, marketing and information department at the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Ashraf Dowidar, spoke about the environment for investment and industry in the Arab country, especially in the auto sector.
*Translated by Mark Ament
