Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli praised distinguished relations between Egypt and France that led to increasing trade exchange to hit 3 billion dollars in 2020, up by 20 percent compared with 2019.
“France has been and will always be an important partner to Egypt,” he said.
During his meeting with representatives of 90 French companies at the headquarters of the French Business Council “MEDEF”, Madbouli said Egypt is one of the important recipients of France's foreign investments as more than 165 French companies are operating in Egypt with total investments of 5 billion euros, he said, adding that these investments contribute to providing 38,000 jobs.
Madbouli further hailed Egypt’s presidential nation-wide initiative ‘Haya Karima’ as “the first Egyptian national developmental project that serves 58 million citizens with an estimated budget of 40 billion euros”
He indicated that human development and social protection have always been at the heart of the Egyptian reform program, noting that during the implementation, noting that during the implementation of the economic reform program, Egypt was committed to alleviating the low-income and needy groups to reduce the negative impacts.
“We need to enhance trade and investment cooperation with France, especially as Egypt possesses massive economic potentials and has many promising investment opportunities,” Madbouli said in light of measures taken to mitigate the negative repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic and stimulate national economy.
He also reviewed the economic accomplishments Egypt succeeded in achieving over the past period, saying Egypt is now carrying out an ambitious economic development plan as it launched Egypt Vision 2030 in February of 2016.
Madbouli said Egypt targets achieving a 5.4 percent economic growth in 2021/2022 fiscal year to rise to 6 to 7 percent within the next three years.
He said Egypt is keen on drawing on from French expertise, especially in the domains of auto industry, communications and information technology, ready-to-wear clothes, textiles, small and medium-sized enterprises, transport, energy and water.
Source: Egypt Today
