Egyptian Economic Performance (20/2/2007)   A Special Unit to promote Saudi Investments In Egypt In a meeting of the ministers of Trade and Industry and Investment with the Saudi side in the Egyptian –Saudi Business Council on Monday February 19th 2007 , it was agreed upon to build a special investment unit in the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) to present investment opportunities available in Egypt and to provide assistance to Saudi companies interested in investing in the Egyptian market, and dealing with any problems for Saudi investments in Egypt. The minister of investment stressed that the Egyptian government is keen on encouraging investors from both sides to invest in the 2 countries. He pointed out that the Saudi investments in Egypt grew substantially, especially in the field of land reclamation, noting that a new contract for reclamation in the southern Nile valley would be signed soon in addition to other major projects in the construction and real estate fields. It is worth mentioning that Saudi Arabia came first among Arab countries in investments in Egypt and second among all foreign investors. There are 1260 Saudi company working in Egypt, 36% of which in the industry sector, 28% in the financial services sector in addition to tourism and agriculture.   Signing a Loan Agreement to Finance Gas Pipelines Projects The Minister of Petroleum and the Chairman of the Arab International Bank witnessed the signing of a loan agreement between the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Co. ( Egas ), the Arab International Bank in partnership with a group of the international banks to finance the project of Taba / Sharm El  Sheikh, Shukeir / Hurghada gas pipelines ,valued at about L.E 355 million ($ 90 million) . The project is financed by the Arab International bank as a general coordinator, with eight commercial banks i.e. the International Arab Banking Corporation, Misr Bank and the Egyptian-Saudi Finance Bank, Piraeus Bank, the United Bank, the National Bank for Development, Abu Dhabi National Bank and Awda Bank.   IFC supports Gas Development in Egypt The International Finance Corporation has signed an agreement to support natural gas development in Bulgaria and Egypt in an effort to promote consumption of gas as a cleaner and more convenient fuel. The financing in Egypt is a revolving credit facility to support exploration and development in the El Mansoura, Southeast El Mansoura, and Qantara concessions in the onshore Nile Delta. In Egypt’s El Mansoura area, recent oil and gas discoveries are being brought into production, and further appraisal and exploration is ongoing. IFC, which is part of the World Bank group, works with private companies in critical sectors of Egypt’s economy. The hydrocarbon sector is a strong source of foreign investment for the country and an important contributor to its gross domestic product.   Turkey builds its first car factory in Egypt: A new Egyptian-Turkish project to manufacture cars in Egypt was inaugurated on Sunday February 18th 2007 in the 10th of Ramadan city. The project which will be built by "Sabangi" group- one of the major finance and business groups in Turkey and Europe- on an area of 80 thousand square meters and amounts to investments of 150 million pounds, of which 35% is Egyptian. The production capacity of the factory will be 500 tourist buses and 500 Minibus per year in the first phase of the project, and will employ 750 workers up to 1250 worker in the second phase. On the other side, the Turkish - Egyptian relations grew substantially in the last couple of years after the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Egypt and Turkey, namely the intra trade reached a billion dollars in 2006 and the amount of Turkish investments was 300 million dollars during the same year. The agreement should enter into effect next march after the completion of the necessary measures by the Turkish government.   General Electric wins $ 120 million bid to supply locomotives to Egyptian railway system The US-based giant General Electric has won a tender launched by the Egyptian government to supply the General Railways Authority with forty locomotives valued at nearly $120 million. Minister of Transport said the US company would start supplying the diesel locomotives on September 2008 at a rate of ten vehicles per month. He pointed out that payment of the new machines would be financed by a $120 million grant from Qatar to the Egyptian Ministry of Transports. The Egyptian government last year also allocated LE 8.5 billion to upgrade the country's ailing railway system over a five-year period. The amount included LE 3.5 billion in loans from banks, in addition to funds from the public treasury.   The 2nd Broader MENA Finance Conference 2007 The Minister of Investment paid one day visit to Munich to give the opening speech in the 2nd Broader MENA Finance Conference on the 9th February in Munich 2007, which has as its central theme this year the reviewing of the economic reform experience in Egypt.  He introduced the positive measures taken by the government regarding the economic policy in Egypt and the investment climate, as well as the developments recorded in the legislative environment. He also highlighted the regulations and procedures taken by the government to facilitate the business activities, activate the economic performance, attract foreign investments, improve publication and transparency regulations, and activate women participation in the society. Such procedures resulted in the positive macroeconomic indicators. He further asked the financial companies and institutions to benefit from the political and economic stability in Egypt as well as promoting their investments in the Egyptian Market. He also held important meetings with the German Business Society and met the German side in the Egyptian-German Business Council to discuss the council's activities developments in supporting the economic relations between Egypt and Germany.   Tourist arrivals increase in Egypt The number of Americans traveling to Egypt in 2006 soared to 228,165, a 16% increase over 195,800 visitors in 2005. Globally, Egypt succeeded in attracting 9,082,000 visitors in 2006, a 5.5% increase over the 8.7 million visitors of the previous year. These are strong results given that the global growth rate for tourism worldwide is 4.5%, according to the World Trade Organization.  Tourist nights soared to 89.3 million versus 85.1 million in 2005, representing a 4.9% increase. The average stay lengthened slightly to 8.3 nights from 8.2 nights in 2005.