Arab Cooperation.. How Egypt responded to the economic crises

Dr. Muhammad Muait, Minister of Finance, and his counterpart in the Sultanate of Oman, Sultan bin Salem Al Habsi, signed an agreement to prevent double taxation and tax evasion between the two countries.

Dr. Muhammad Muait confirmed, an increase in the volume of trade exchange by 80.8% during the year 2022, compared to 2021, which practically confirms that we can achieve a lot in the areas of joint cooperation.

The minister added that the signing of the agreement to prevent double taxation and the memorandum of understanding for cooperation in the fields of financial policies and developments, is in addition to the many agreements that will be signed in many areas complementing each other, during the recent visit of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan of Oman.

In addition to the two agreements and memorandums of cooperation, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed many agreements during his visits to the Sultanate of Oman last June and the most prominent of which are:

- Areas of enhancing competition and combating monopolistic practices

- Investment promotion, export development, maritime transport, ports, youth, sports, culture, work, training, higher education, scientific research, innovation and the academic field.

- The establishment and management of industrial zones, environmental protection, mutual recognition of marine qualification certificates for seafarers, as well as scientific cooperation; Which represents a contractual framework and a solid base to encourage joint cooperation.

The minister indicated that the first lessons learned from the global crisis that afflicted us all, is:

- The need to intensify Arab cooperation and integration in order to help ourselves.

- We have a greater ability to absorb sharp international fluctuations

- In Egypt, we are working to raise the rates of self-sufficiency in basic commodities and production requirements, which requires stimulating investors.

- Opening more areas for the private sector to raise its contribution to the gross domestic product, to enable it to lead growth in the coming period, as reflected in the launch of the State Ownership Policy Document, the Government Offering Program, and the Golden License.

- In addition to initiatives to support domestic production and export, as the state treasury bears EGP 12 billion in the interest rate difference to provide EGP 160 billion in credit facilities for agricultural and industrial production and tourism.

- It also bears 6 billion pounds to subsidize electricity for the industrial sector, and the treasury also bears the real estate tax for the industrial sector for a period of 3 years at a cost of 5 billion pounds.

- There is a deduction ranging from 30 to 50% of investment spending for new projects from the taxable base to encourage investment in some investment activities and areas in accordance with the investment law.