British investments in Egypt hit $5.5bn late 2015

UK’s investments in the Egyptian markets have reached around US$5.5 billion during 2015 in 1,358 projects to be the third largest investor in Egypt, trade minister Tarek Qabil stated Sunday.

The minister made these remarks during his meeting with Jeffrey Donaldson – the personal envoy of British Prime Minister David Cameron- in the presence of UK ambassador in Cairo John Casson and Ali Al Leithy, head of Egypt’s Foreign Commercial Representation Office.

Donaldson arrived Egypt last Saturday for a five-day visit heading a high-profile commercial mission to review the investment and trade opportunities.

During the meeting, Qabil and Donaldson discussed the importance of strengthening the mutual cooperation notably in the fields of technical and vocational education, infrastructure, energy as well as Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs).

Additionally, the two parties have talked over participating in developing a number of sectors such as textiles, leather, furniture, plastics, and food industries since Egypt owns competitive potentials in those prominent sectors.

They emphasised on the importance of coordinating between the Egyptian and British sides to boost the volume of intra trade that recorded £1.5 billion during January-November 2015.

During his visit, Jeffery is set to meet Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker as well as Ahmed Darwish -head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone Authority- and other officials.

For Jeffrey, it is the first time to visit Egypt as the personal envoy to the British PM David Cameron.