President Sisi to meet with CEOs of 40 French companies

CAIRO – 21 October 2017: During his visit to France that will start on Tuesday, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet with the chairpersons of 40 French companies, which are interested to start or increase investments in Egypt, Akhbar el-Youm newspaper reported Saturday.

The meeting will comprise the Industry and Trade Minister Tarek Kabil, Transportation Minister Hisham Arafat, a number of French ministers and a delegation of Egyptian businessmen that includes members of the French Chamber of Commerce in Egypt (CCFE) and of the Egyptian-French Business Council.

Transpiration Minister is set to meet next month with the representatives of French companies interested in investing or working in Egypt’s transportation sector.

Mahmoud el-keissy, chairman of the CCFE which comprises 780 members, said that French investors are paying close attention to opportunities in the Suez Canal Axis, particularly industries whose output can be exported to Middle Eastern and African markets.

Investors in Egypt would benefit from several trade agreements that the country signed with different economic blocs, which are home to approximately one billion people, Keissy said.

He explained that French products would have a bigger opportunity to penetrate the Eastern African markets due to agreements between Egypt and the Common Market for Eastern & Southern Africa (COMESA) member states.

Keissy further told Akhbar el-Youm newspaper that trade exchange between Egypt and France reached €1.546 billion in the first eight months of 2017, marking an increase of 12 percent from the €1.38 achieved during the same period last year. Egyptian exports to France also rose from €332 million in 2016 to €401 million in 2017.

The Chairman of the Egyptian-French Business Council Foud Younes said that the French exports to Egypt increased by 11 percent from €825.7 million in the first half of last year to €915.9 million in the same period this year.

Younes said that French investments in Egypt amount to €5 billion, represented in 160 companies that hire 30,000 employees in the sectors of food manufacturing, construction, energy, telecommunication, retail, banking, programming, medicine, transportation and tourism.

Top Egyptian exports to France are petrochemicals (€147 million), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) (€13 million), grains, citrus and vegetables, Younes said.

Meanwhile, top French exports to Egypt are electronic and electric devices, information technology (IT) services, prosthesis, measuring devices, turbines, motors, visual media, cylinders, poultry, sugar, dairy products and transportation equipment.