Saudi investors wish investment a priority for President Mursi

JEDDAH — A number of Saudi investors in Egypt, with an estimated $27 billion of stalled investments in tourism, industry and real estate, hope that these will be among the priorities of Egyptian President-elect Mohamed Mursi.

The head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council, Dr. Abdullah Dahlan told Okaz daily that "the Saudi and GCC businessmen respect and appreciate the decision of the Egyptian people, and wish for the commitment of the new presidency to all previously concluded and announced economic agreements," He added: "We as businessmen are not interested in political matters, but that the political stability will be positively reflected on security that ensures the return of normal economic and social life, and perhaps the most important is the return of work in manufacturing and tourism sectors, which are the two main investment sectors for GCC investors, as they will be a catalyst for further investment to address the issues of unemployment."

Moreover, he said "there are a number of obstacles that we have included in files before the Council of Ministers and the Shura Council which we hope will receive priority by the Presidency which announced that the economy is on its list of priorities, and I hope that the next phase will be of development and flourishing of the Egyptian people in various fields economic and social development."

Fuad Boukari, a member of Saudi-Egyptian Business Council, said: "We hope that this will be the start of a new era reflecting on the prosperity to the Egyptian citizens, and guarantee the rights of Saudi investor in Egypt, especially that it is an investment in an Arab and Muslim country of brotherly, religious and language relations with the Saudi citizens."

He added: "The Saudi investments is one of the largest investments in Egypt, and we as investors have emphasized our investment commitment, regardless of the difficulties facing it, but there are a lot of stalled investments that are incurring loses since they are paying Egyptian workers in spite of work stoppage." — SG/Okaz