SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt — On the sidelines of the annual meetings of the African Caucus for the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund held on Aug. 5 in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt’s Environment Minister Yasmine Fouad said in an interview with Egypt's Extra News, “The ministry is currently interested in developing Egypt's nature reserves by improving infrastructure and allowing the private sector to make use of economic activities there.”

Fouad further noted that the Ministry of Environment will give investment companies access to two nature reserves within four months. The first is Tigris Valley, east of Maadi in Cairo, and the second one could be either Ras Muhammad National Park in South Sinai or the petrified forest in Cairo governorate.

That day, Fouad visited Ras Muhammad National Park in Sharm El-Sheikh in South Sinai along with Egyptian Minister of Tourism Rania al-Mashat. In a joint press release, they expressed the importance of investing in nature reserves by offering services to investors who can turn them into eco-tourism attractions.

The head of the nature reserves department at the Ministry of Environment and spokesperson for the ministry’s protected areas and biodiversity department, Mohamed Salem, told Al-Monitor, “The ministry is currently focusing on investing in nature reserves according to the nature and the size of the reserves’ infrastructure. The purpose is to benefit from them as much as possible while abiding by the laws defining their use and without changing the shape and characteristics of each protected area.”