Dr. Khaled Hanafi, the Secretary General of the Union of Arab Chambers, chaired the fourth session of the Arab Economic Forum at its 27th session in Beirut under the title "Climate and Investment Opportunities in the Arab Republic of Egypt." The speakers at this session were HE Eng. Tariq Al Mulla, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, HE Dr. Mohammed Shaker Al Marqabi, Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy and HE Ahmed Al Wakil, President of the Union of Egyptian, African and Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce.
Dr. Hanafy said that the Arab Republic of Egypt witnessed in the recent period, economic reforms and a great urban development that will bear fruit in turn and the Egyptian citizen will feel it soon, which would improve the standard of his living. He pointed out that "these projects and reforms carried out by the President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi led to a notable increase in the growth rates and are gradually improving in the Egyptian economy, which will see significant leaps in the coming period."
Minister Tariq Al-Mulla said in his speech that Egypt has witnessed a significant development in the oil sector, pointing out that before the year 2011, Gas exports were limited, but after the events that accompanied the eruptions of January and June between 2011 and 2013, Egypt turned into an importer of oil derivatives, which increased the burden on the Egyptian economy.
He said: "the extraordinary transformation was to discover the Zohr Field, a gas field located in a large area in the Mediterranean called Shorouk, an area about 200 kilometers north of Port Said.
He continued: "it is the largest gas field in Egypt discovered in the Mediterranean in 2015 by the Italian ENI, and also the largest of the fields discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, which began production in December 2017 and the proven reserves of 30 trillion Cube feet ".
Al-Mulla said that "Egypt exported gas from this field to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and in a later stage, will be exporting from it to the rest of the world, which will add more positive to the Egyptian economy, which began to recover by the wise policies pursued by His Excellency President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi since his arrival to the presidency, and it will recover more as the Egyptian people wrap around his leadership."
As for Mohammed Shaker Al-Marqabi, the Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy, he talked about the measures taken by Egypt in the development of the energy and electricity sector, revealing that Egypt has signed a deal with Siemens for $6 billion to produce 14,000 megawatts of electricity covering all the Egyptian governorates, which will contribute to solving the dilemma that has been facing Egypt for many years.
Al-Marqabi mentioned Egypt's approach to energy production through renewable energy and wind energy capacity of 90 thousand megawatts in cooperation with the private sector, revealing that these projects will be done by 2022.
He added: “there were also signed cooperation agreements with the Russian Federation for the establishment of nuclear reactors for the production of energy capacity of 8 thousand megawatts, and other important projects that help Egypt to develop and achieve economic advancement.”
Ahmed Wakil, the President of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce pointed out that "Egypt has achieved a qualitative leap in the recent years on more than one level, especially in the sectors of energy, electricity, infrastructure and telecommunications, thanks to the extraordinary efforts led by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi"
He also stated: "we, in the Arab world must be wary of what has happened in the past in order to move towards the future. Therefore, we must benefit from our experiences and the experiences of countries that have been able to achieve tremendous development in their economies. Hence, I call for strengthening our mutual Arab investments by injecting more investments into the Arab region, as this will strengthen our Arab environment amid the global economic blocs."
"Mr. El-Wakil stressed that “the private sector can play an important role in promoting cooperation within the Arab world, particularly in vital sectors such as transport and logistics, which helps connect the Arab countries to each other, as well as connecting the Arab countries through a huge network of roads with the world's continents, especially with Africa, which today is a promising market where investment in Africa is investment in the future."
