Egypt hopes economic conference will yield results
Egypt's economic conference in Sharm el-Sheikh was considered a success in terms of agreements to foster Egypt’s economy, but some projects will only be implemented in the long run.
CAIRO — The Egyptian political administration received broad international and Arab support during the “Egypt the Future” economic conference, which was aimed at boosting the country’s economy following political unrest that had negative repercussions on the state budget and led to low growth rates, rising unemployment and a flight of foreign investment. Yet, following the conference held on March 13, the path ahead seems full of challenges when it comes to capabilities for building on the results of the conference and pushing forward with real steps to ensure the Egyptian economy’s recovery.
During the conference, the government announced huge investment projects, in addition to 40 agreements and memoranda of understanding being signed in the electricity, energy, housing, telecommunications and oil sectors. In his concluding speech at the conference, Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb said, “The initial estimate for the total investments that have been agreed upon is $60 billion, including $18.6 billion on funded projects.”
