Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Eng. Hassan ElKhatib, held an interview with Bloomberg during his visit to South Africa for the Bloomberg Business Summit, where he discussed efforts to restore foreign direct investment, highlighted major deals with Qatar, outlined plans to restructure state assets, and detailed Egypt’s growing industrial investment opportunities, Invest-Gate reports.

El-Khatib discussed efforts to restore foreign direct investment (FDI) flows following recent challenges. He highlighted major deals recently executed with Qatar, citing the Ras Al-Hikma project as a model for attracting large-scale investments.

He emphasized that political, financial, and trade reforms over the past year have strengthened investor confidence. “Stable and long-term policies are what investors look for when making decisions,” he noted, underlining the importance of consistent economic frameworks in fostering investment.

The minister also outlined plans to restructure state assets through the Egypt Sovereign Fund and the Asset Management Unit, aiming to increase their value and determine which assets to retain or divest.

Regarding industrial investments, El-Khatib pointed out that Egypt has become a destination for manufacturing mobile phones and electric vehicles, leveraging its strategic location and competitive labor force.

He further highlighted improvements in economic indicators despite challenges, noting that government reforms helped offset the impact of Red Sea disruptions on Suez Canal revenues, while remittances from Egyptians abroad rose, foreign reserves increased, and inflation declined.

El-Khatib also projected an improvement in the trade balance, stating that measures to facilitate trade and reduce customs time and costs are expected to bring the deficit to its lowest level since 2010 by year-end.