Egyptian Economic Performance A. FDI in Egypt 1-According to the latest report issued by the Ministry of Investment on December 25th, FDI has increased from 3.9bn USD in 2004/2005 to 6.1bn USD in 2005/2006, thus reflecting the success the policies undertaken by the government to attract more FDI for the aim of creating more job opportunities and increasing the economic growth rate. 2-This increase in FDI was accompanied by a structural change towards non-petroleum sectors that now account for 80% of total FDI as per the report that mentions the following statistics: •FDI in non-petroleum sectors reached 4.279 bn USD in 2005/2006 versus 1.361bn USD in 2004/2005 •FDI in petroleum sectors reached 1.832 bn USD in 2005/2006 3-It is worth mentioning that in 2007 the ministry of Investment is expected to concentrate on promoting available investment opportunities in specific sectors in China, India and Turkey. This will be achieved by cooperation with other governmental ministries as well as relevant bodies including cooperation with MIGA in capacity building as well as the World Bank Group. B. Cooperation with Italy: 1-The Egyptian-Italian Business Council held its conference in Milan on December 11th, with the presence of the ministers of trade and industry in both countries as well as a number of investors and businessmen. 2-During the conference, a consensus was reached with San Paolo Bank-which acquired 80% of Bank of Alexandria- on the following issues: •Establishing funds for financing small and medium industries. •Developing exports in cooperation with the Egyptian Bank for Export Development and Export Development Program. •Cooperation with The Program for Industry Modernization in the fields of industry modernization and technology transfer. •Offering credit facilities for Italian importers from Egypt. •Participating in linking small and medium enterprises (SME) in both countries in some industries comprising; leather products, furniture, marble and ready-made garments. 3-It is worth mentioning that this year witnessed surplus in the trade balance with Italy for the first time, as exports amounted to 1.46bn USD whereas imports amounted to 958 million USD. Moreover, Egyptian exports to Italy are likely to increase by 100% by the end of next year, taken into consideration that Italy is considered to be Egypt's major European trade partner and investor and is ranked 3rd after the UK and Germany in terms of European tourists visiting Egypt. C. Development in The Energy sector 1-On the 14th of December, the first conference of the African Union ministers of petroleum and energy was held in Cairo, organized by the African Union in conjunction with the Ministry of Petroleum and the technical support of the African Development Bank. The conference was attended by ministers of petroleum and energy in the African Union States, the Executive Secretary of the Economic Committee for Africa in the UN, Chairman of the African Development Bank, and the African Union Infrastructure and Energy Commissioner. 2-The participants held 5 technical sessions discussing the effects of the shocks in the energy market on the African economies as well as the strategic trends for cooperation and solidarity among members of the African Union in the petroleum and gas sectors. 3-The conference issued in its  Communiqué, the Cairo Declaration on African security and solidarity in the field of hydrocarbon that included the approval on establishing a center to coordinate among the African countries as well as assisting the African Commission in its petroleum activities in the headquarter of the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum. Cairo declaration also highlighted the importance of boosting the African cooperation and solidarity in the Petroleum Sector along with the importance of working on realizing the optimum petroleum revenues, the need to increase the quantity as well as improving the quality of petroleum products in Africa along with the appeal to set a strategy to enhance the African states capabilities in the petroleum concession agreements, in addition to following-up the activities of the oil companies operating in Africa.  The Declaration included the importance of working upon developing regional integration projects and called on the African Union Commission to define and implement development strategies for clean and renewable energy, and working upon studying and resolving environmental issues related to hydrocarbon. 4-On the other hand, discussions included the mechanisms and practical arrangements for the establishment and activation of the African Petroleum Fund to assist oil importing countries in mastering oil shocks and facilitate the financing of oil imports for poor African countries. 5-There was a highlighting of the leading role of Egypt in deepening cooperation with African countries through offering technical services and implementing petroleum projects based on its long experience and success achieved in various Arab countries. 6-On the other hand, the Minister of Petroleum called for studying the establishment of a Petroleum and Mineral Resources Union, to be as an advanced mechanism to cope with the coming phase changes. He also called for studying the establishment of a petroleum services holding company in which private sector’s share represents 50%, and the Petroleum Sector’s companies willing to share with the remaining percentage, comprising two subsidiary companies, one to work in  Egypt , and the other outside Egypt . 7-On the 21st of December, the Minister of Electricity and Energy witnessed the conclusion of the loan agreement offered by the European Investment Bank for the establishment of 2 electricity generation stations in Alatf and Sidi Kerer for a value of 260 million Euros. This comes within the framework of the 5-year plan of the electricity sector 2007-2012 aiming at adding new generation power of 7000 MW for investments of 36bn EGP. It is worth mentioning that the European Investment Bank has already contributed in financing several projects that are now under implementation including the immediate plan of adding 4500MW to the national electricity network. D. Cooperation with China 1-On December 18th, an agreement of 90 million USD was concluded for the establishment of a complex for the production and extraction of Sodium Carbonate salt from Karoun Lake in Fayoum in cooperation among the National Bank of Egypt, an Egyptian company on one side and China Company for Chemicals and Engineering on the other side. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese company is considered to be the largest Chinese company in chemicals, petrochemicals, energy, textiles and infrastructure, owning 27 sub-companies and branches in China and operating in 41 foreign countries. It is also among the largest 225 engineering companies in the world since 1995. 2-On a similar note, the CEO of the company held meetings with several officials and businessmen, where he discussed participating in the following projects: •The establishment of water and sewage projects with the ministry of Housing for 10 bn USD. •The establishment of a joint venture with the ministry of petroleum to implement projects in Africa. •The establishment of new medical clinics in cooperation with the ministry of health. •Implementation of several petrochemical projects. 3-On the other hand an agreement was signed for the establishment of an Egyptian Chinese joint venture for manufacturing offshore petroleum drilling rigs for a capital of 30 million USD distributed equally among the Egyptian companies Petrojet, Enpi and tharwa on one side and the Chinese company HH on the other side.