Immigration, Planning Ministries Open Dialogue with Expatriate Businessmen

Within the initiative entitled "Reassure Your Country", the Minister of Immigration invited a number of businessmen and investors abroad to listen to their vision of the economic conditions in post-coronavirus crisis Egypt.

Dr. Hala Al-Saeed, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, and Ambassador Nabila Makram, Minister of State for Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, held an open dialogue with a group of Egyptian businessmen living abroad through the "video conference" technology, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development.

The dialogue was attended by Mr. Ahmed Galal Ismail, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim Real Estate in Dubai, Mr. Marwan Al Arabi, partner in the international law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP, Mr. Bishoy Azmi, CEO of Al Shafar General Contracting (ASGC), and Mr. Sam Ayyad, CEO of Smartbill Pty Ltd, President and Co-Founder of Bluewater Control Pty Ltd, Dr. Ahmed Rustom, Senior Financial Specialist at the World Bank, Mr. Karim Asaad, Founder and Director of Brooks & Kempton, Mr. Adel Paulus, CEO of Amira, and Mr. Ashraf Doss, Founder of Vermbro Global Investments Inc. the Chairman of the Board of Directors of ADSC / DFI Micropile, and Mr. Tamer Hidayat, Head of International Markets and Global Services at NetSync.

Reassure Your Country: Minister of Planning: 3.5% growth rate if the coronavirus crisis ends.

The Planning minister explained that the Egyptian economy is expected to achieve a growth rate of 3.5% during the fiscal year 2021/20 in the event of the end of the coronavirus outbreak by the end of the current fiscal year 2019/22.

Al-Saeed affirmed that its effects are expected to extend to the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021/2020 or the entire first half, noting that if the crisis persists until December 2020, the targeted growth rate is expected to drop to 2%.

Al-Saeed indicated that with regard to the rate of economic growth expected in 19/2020; in light of the outbreak of the coronavirus, the continuation of the repercussions of the crisis until June 2020 has become a highly probable thing, which would affect the growth rates of the third and fourth quarters of the current fiscal year.

Immigration minister tells how can Egyptians abroad help in the Corona crisis?

Makram called on businessmen to submit their proposals on how to integrate the returning Egyptians from abroad into the Egyptian economy, stressing that the state seeks to integrate them by facilitating the investment opportunities presented to them, within the framework of the state’s endeavor to alleviate the economic repercussions resulting from the outbreak of the coronavirus.

Makram reassured them about the situation in Egypt by informing them of the measures taken by the Egyptian state to contain the coronavirus crisis and working to recover from it, by laying down a comprehensive plan to alleviate the health and economic effects of the crisis.

She noted that the ministerial committee formed to deal with the crisis of the stranded Egyptians abroad decided to hand over to the returnees while they are in quarantine, a contact form to register their data, motivating them to integrate into the Egyptian economy.

In the meantime, a number of participating businessmen from Egyptian expats reviewed the global economic developments, especially those related to globalization trends and digital transformation.

Contributed by Nawal Sayed