"Financial Times" reveals Egypt's investments in the COMESA countries

The workshop organized by the Regional Investment Agency (RIA) of the Organization of the Member States of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa - COMESA, in cooperation with the European Union, concluded with the participation of 17 countries of the grouping in the city of Vitkorea Falls in Zimbabwe.

The 3-day workshop reviewed the best international practices in facilitating and attracting foreign direct investments and the subsequent care for investors, in addition to emphasizing the need to encourage intra-group investments, due to their significant role in supporting economic development in the countries of the grouping, enhancing cooperation and exchanging experiences. In the field of attracting and promoting investments.

The investment agencies presented their experiences in the field of attracting foreign direct investment, emphasizing the ease of transferring knowledge between investment agencies between the countries of the assembly, and the ease of adopting these practices; Due to the convergence of economic and social conditions between the COMESA countries.

According to the report of statistics reviewed by the workshop, prepared by the Financial Times International on foreign direct investment flows during the period from January to September 2022, for the 21 countries of the COMESA grouping, the countries of the grouping accounted for 1.6 percent of the volume of investment flows in the world, with a number of 200 project, which provided more than 67 thousand job opportunities.

The statistics, which were reviewed by the Middle East News Agency, indicated that the total Egyptian investments in the COMESA countries amounted to $4.2 billion at the end of last September, in 48 projects, concentrated in the financial services sectors, which constituted 23% of the total projects established during the period from 2003 to 2022, and the remaining percentage was distributed among the sectors of industry, services, building and construction, energy, mining, logistics, and information technology.

Kenya ranked first as a destination for Egyptian investments in the COMESA countries, with 14 projects, followed by Ethiopia with 9 projects, then Libya and Sudan with 8 projects, followed by Zambia with 3 projects, then Djibouti with two projects, and Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Zimbabwe with projects in each nation.

With regard to the investments of the COMESA countries in Egypt during the period from 2003 to 2022, the total number of investment projects from the countries of the COMESA region to Egypt reached 15 projects with investments amounting to 373 million US dollars, concentrated in the sectors of financial services, education, technology, software and information technology, banks Food, transportation, warehousing and logistics.