Saudi Arabia invests $6.12 billion in Egypt: Egyptian trade minister
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is Egypt’s second largest investor, with $6.1 billion poured into 6,017 projects, said Ahmed Samir, the North African country’s minister of trade and industry.
The Commerce Minister announced the investment amount during his visit to Riyadh on December 25, and met with Saudi ministers and senior officials to strengthen bilateral ties between the two countries.
Sameer said Saudi Arabia’s investments in Egypt span a range of sectors, including industry, construction, tourism, agriculture, services, finance, communications and information technology.
The trade minister also added that trade transactions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia surged 41.3% year-on-year to $4.572 billion in 2021, compared to $3.236 billion in 2020.
Back in August, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund launched the Saudi Egypt Investment Company with the aim of investing in promising Egyptian sectors and expanding the PIF’s investment footprint in Africa.
Samir met with Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar bin Sultan Al-Saud and Trade Minister Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi, according to a statement from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During the meeting, the ministers discussed ways to strengthen investment cooperation between the two countries, and the talks also addressed ways to launch industrial partnerships between Egypt and Saudi Arabia in various fields of production.
According to the Egyptian Public Mobilization Statistics Office, Saudi Arabia is the largest exporter among the Arab countries, with exports reaching $6.4 billion, while Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman contributed $2.4 billion, $2.2 billion and $6.6 billion respectively. It boasts an export value of $25.7 million.
The Saudi news agency reported in November that the kingdom was exploring investment opportunities in Egypt’s improved real estate landscape following the African country’s recent move to lift restrictions on foreign ownership of land.
The report further noted that Saudi Arabia’s National Property Board met with the Egyptian Businessmen’s Association to discuss potential property investments.
At a meeting of the Egypt-Saudi Arabian Economic Council in early June, al-Qasabi said Saudi Arabia and Egypt had signed an investment agreement worth $7.7 billion in 14 deals.