Doha, 24 July 2022

By Ashraf Siddiqui

EGYPT is keen to broaden its historical and strong relations with Qatar in all sectors, Ambassador of Egypt to Qatar HE Amr Kamal El-Sherbiny has said.

Addressing a press conference on the eve of his country’s 70th National Day celebrations, the anniversary of Egyptian revolution of 1952, the ambassador
lauded the recent official visit of the Amir His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

He said that both sides pledged to strengthen bilateral relations on broader horizons to the next level and to establish cooperation mechanism in various fields.

He said that earlier in March this year, the visit of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Cairo and his meeting with Foreign Minister of Egypt Sameh Shoukry witnessed the signing of an agreement of Qatari investment of $5 billion in Egypt.

The envoy said that Qatar is the 10th largest investor in Egypt, with share investments worth $2.2 billion in about 231 various companies, including petroleum sector, banking, real estate and hospitality with a total capital of $4.6 billion. This is in addition to the agreement signed during the recent visit of HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani to Cairo.

El-Sherbiny hopes to attract further handsome Qatari investments in the next few months.

He said that despite the worldwide difficult economic circumstances, including Ukraine-Russian crisis and repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic, and the reduced expectations for global growth to 3.6 percent for 2022 and 2023, the Egyptian economy indicators show that growth reached 5.9 percent in 2022, compared to 3.3 percent in 2021, thus confirming its ability to withstand various shocks.

“We like to further build stronger bilateral relations in various sectors, including trade, investment, transport, communication, ports, education, culture and sports,” he said, referring to the visits to Qatar by the Minister of Transport in April, the Minister of Finance at Qatar Economic Forum; the Minister of Trade and Industry; the President of Suez Canal Authority; and Advisor and CEO of General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.

The ambassador said the visits fostered strong willingness of both sides in building strong bilateral bonds, adding that the meetings were held with Qatari officials and business groups to review further opportunities of investments, incentives offered to foreign investors, including in free zones, economic zones and the Suez Canal.

He said the discussions also focused on establishing a unit to follow up and communicate with business owners directly to overcome any obstacles on launching of ‘Egypt Digital Gateway’ to provide about 90 percent of digital services eliminating bureaucracy and minimising processing procedure.

The envoy said that Egypt will be the host of the COP 27 UN Conference on Climate Change from November 6 to 18, 2022 at the Sharm El-Sheikh.

He said a set of incentives have been issued to support investment activities related to green economy, including production of green hydrogen and the transition to modern environmentally friendly transportation using electric vehicles.

He said that work on monorail ‘LRT” electric train is expected to start sometimes in the last quarter of this year.

El-Sherbiny said that Egypt fully support and ready to provide all assistance to Qatar to host a successful first ever FIFA World Cup 2022 in Arab world.

“Although, Egyptian team did not qualify for the World Cup, Egyptian fans and the large number of Egyptian community members in Qatar will be participating in the tournament.

We look forward to organising a one-day trip for Egyptian fans from outside Doha to attend 2022 World Cup matches,” he added.