Cairo – The Parliament of Egypt has approved on a permanent basis amendments proposed by the government to the Importers’ Registry Law. They were drafted by the Cabinet of Egypt on a recommendation from the Supreme Council for Investment of the Arab country. The most important measure is the permission that companies whose foreign investors’ share is over 49% be registered in the importers’ record.
The amendments allow that joint-stock companies, S.A.s, private limited companies or individual companies whose foreign investors’ share is over 49% be registered in the importers’ record for no longer than 10 years, renewable only once. Egypt’s Trade Ministry is yet to lay down procedures and controls to guide the registration of these companies.
The president of the Egyptian parliament, Hanafi El-Gebali, said the amendments to the Law no. 121 of 1982 is to attract a greater volume of direct foreign investment to the Egyptian market. Deputy chairman of the House’s Economic Commitment, Mohamed Abdel Hamid, explained that the old law didn’t allow the registration of companies whose foreign equity was over 49%.
He added that the amendment contributes to prevent some of the hardships experience by industrial projects, thus facilitating and making available the funds needed to production, streamlining the development of these projects, increasing its productivity, renewing the productive cycle and improving the investment climate.
Hamid says that the measure is part of the legislative agenda on investment. The amendments aim to clear the obstacles, create an environment and a climate that are conductive to investment, attract more foreign capital to the country and make more goods available in Egypt. He stressed that the project came to solve problems that represent a major hurdle for investment, thus putting Egyptian and foreigners on an equal footing.
Translated by Georgette Merkhan & Guilherme Miranda
