Minister of Planning and Economic Development participates in a panel discussion entitled“Switzerland and Egypt: For a sustainable investment framework”."

Egypt’s Minister of Planning and Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said participated recently in a panel discussion entitled "Switzerland and Egypt: For a sustainable investment framework”., which was held on the sidelines of the reception of Mr. Ueli Maurer, Federal Chancellor and the Swiss Minister of Finance, and his accompanying delegation on the occasion of their visit to Egypt.
The visit aims to strengthen economic and bilateral relations and exploring sustainable investment and financing opportunities in Egypt and Switzerland.
The discussion panel witnessed the presence of Mr. Mohamed El-Etreby, Chairman of Banque Misr, Mr. Samih Sawiris, Chairman and CEO of Orascom Development Holding AG, Mrs. Daniela Stoffel, Swiss Minister of State for International Finance (SIF), Mr. Herbert Scheidt, Chairman Swiss Bankers Association (SBA), Mr. Ivo Menzinger, Managing Director of Public Sector Solutions, Head of the Switzerland Region in EMEA, Mr. Paul Garnier, Ambassador of Switzerland to Egypt.
At the beginning of her speech, Dr. Hala El-Said stressed the Egyptian government's keenness to strengthen bilateral relations with Switzerland, especially in the fields of health care, education, transport, and renewable energy, and to localize international expertise in Egypt to achieve the country's sustainable development goals in light of Egypt's Vision 2030.
El-Said noted that Egypt is the largest trading partner of Switzerland in Africa and one of the largest trading partners in 2020.
Switzerland was also the tenth-largest trading partner for Egypt in the fiscal year 2018/2019, according to the Swiss Embassy in Egypt. billion across a wide range of sectors).
Moreover, several Swiss companies have been established in Egypt including Novartis, Nestlé, Holcim, and IBB.

El-Said reviewed the efforts of the Egyptian state in institutional and legal reforms and investment in infrastructure, as public investments directed to the infrastructure sector during the past seven years amounted to EGP 1.7 trillion, exceeding $100 billion. 
As a result of huge investments in infrastructure development, Egypt's global competitiveness improved significantly, the country has been ranked 52nd, compared to the 100th place it occupied in 2014/2015. As for the road quality index, Egypt advanced by 90 ranks to rank 28 globally, and finally, for the electricity quality index, Egypt advanced by 44 ranks to rank 77 globally.

Concerning investment opportunities for Swiss companies in Egypt, El-Said stressed that there are many investment opportunities that the Swiss can benefit from, especially the areas that the Egyptian government gives priority, such as small and medium companies, entrepreneurship, digital transformation, education, health, water management, and renewable energy. There is also a logistics sector, especially around the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), which may be of particular interest to foreign investors interested in export-oriented industries.
El-Said explained that vocational training and skills development are other areas of high priority for Egypt where international companies, including the Swiss, need qualified workers, as Switzerland has a long experience when it comes to skills development and technical education to match the needs of the labor market.
El-Said referred to the spread of the Corona pandemic and its massive health effects, which increases the need to boost investment in this sector, which is also an area of Swiss expertise.

El-Said stressed that Egypt is ready to be a base for the manufacture of vaccines and a gateway for their distribution across the African continent, which has a population of 1.3 billion people.

She added that Egypt is going through a technological revolution led by young people who are creating promising start-ups, and the ICT sector is increasingly becoming a major employer. 
"More financial and technical investment is needed in this booming sector, which will help the country's digitization efforts," El-Said said.
The Minister of Planning and Economic Development concluded her speech by emphasizing that the Egyptian economy has great potential for more investments and business expansion.
During the panel discussion, the attendees made a set of presentations on the topics of sustainable finance from a banking perspective, the investment climate in Egypt and Switzerland, a framework for sustainable finance in Switzerland, sustainable finance in the Swiss banking sector, and sustainable finance in insurance companies.