Foreign Direct Investment in Egypt   1.      According to the latest statistics issued by the ministry of finance and the ministry of investment and the CBE the following could be concluded : ·         Within the framework of the efforts undertaken to attract FDI and improve the investment climate, FDI in the coming year is expected to reach from 7.5 to 8 bn USD, versus 236 million USD in 2003 , 3.9 bn USD in 2005 and 6.1 bn USD in the current year, thus representing 6.5% of GDP. ·         This increase in FDI is accompanied by a structural change in favor of non-petroleum sector which now attracts more than 80% of FDI, taken into consideration the government's plan to offer investment opportunities in non-traditional fields such as education, agriculture and land reclamation as well as PPP projects in water and sewage projects. ·         The reforms undertaken by the government for the aim of promoting investment and applying transparency and creating an investment friendly climate were highly appreciated by several international economic organizations and credit assessment agencies such as IMF and  UNCTAD  which according to its latest report on world investment for 2006 ,Egypt was ranked the second after South Africa in terms of attraction of  foreign direct investment (FDI) directed to Africa, thus indicating an improvement in Egypt’s position as it held the  fifth rank last year , moreover, Egypt is expected to be the first next year. Additionally, similar reports were issued by other institutions such as JP Morgan, Euromoney, Oxford Business Group, Moody's and Fitch, positively appraising the Egyptian economic performance and appreciating the government's reform policies in privatization, promoting Public Private partnership (PPP) especially in giant projects,  as well as enhancing  the pivotal role of growth-driven sectors such as CIT, natural gas and petroleum, building and construction and tourism, in addition to keeping control over the domestic debt. 2.      During the Arab strategic forum currently held in Dubai, the prime minister assured that the government succeeded in implementing the ambitious economic reform program, thus achieving a growth rate as high as 7%, in addition to the FDI boom as a result of a comprehensive strategy aiming at improving the business climate, including tax law amendments, removing obstacles facing investors as well as the restructuring of GAFI ( General Authority for Investment and Free Zones). Within the context of increasing FDI from the UAE which reflects the confidence in the Egyptian economy, the forum also witnessed the signing of a 16.5 bn USD contract between the Egyptian government and an Emirati company for developing "Ghashma Gulf" on the Red Sea over an area of 320 million cubic feet. According to the contract, the company will implement the project in the next 5 years including the establishment of 5 thousand housing properties as well as a number of hotels and commercial malls.