What Was Pledged at Egypt’s Investment Conference?

Prior to Egypt’s Economic Development Conference, Investment Minister Ashraf Salman had said Egypt expects to sign agreements worth up to $20 billion at the summit. With the conference coming to a close on Sunday, Salman revealed the final figures coming out of the summit. According to Salman, Egypt signed deals worth a total $38.2 billion, in addition to $12.5 billion pledged by four Gulf countries. This figure includes investment deals worth $33 billion, and European aid and loans worth $5.2 billion. At least $18.6 billion of the agreements are going towards engineering, procurement, and construction projects, according to Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab.  Salman added that Egypt signed MOUs for potential deals worth $92 billion. Find out more about the specific agreements below. 

Capital Loans, General Investments, and Financial Aid

The Gulf countries alone pledged $12.5 billion in financial aid and investments during the conference.

  • $500 million in aid from Oman. Half will be in the form of financial aid, and half in the form of investments.
  • $4 billion in economic aid from the UAE. $2 billion be a Central Bank of Egypt deposit, and the other $2 billion will be allocated a number of projects that haven’t been announced.
  • $4 billion in aid from Saudi Arabia. $1 billion will be a Central Bank of Egypt deposit, and the rest will be in the form of financial aid and investments.
  • $4 billion investments from Kuwait.
  • $26 million (2 billion EGP) in capital as an investment from Bahrain’s Al Baraka Banking Group.
  • $300 – $450 million from the African Development Bank Sector Operations in the form of a lending program.
  • $2 billion in investments from Private UAE investment group, Khalifa bin Butti Bin Omeir (KBBO) group in the health, money exchange, waste management, renewable energy, and other key sectors.
  • The European Investment Bank has planned $2.1 billion (2 billion euros) of investments in Egypt.
  • The World Bank allocated $5 billion for its Egypt program for the next four years, resulting in more than doubling its annual portfolio to $1.2 billion. The program focuses on job creation and social services.
  • The Islamic Development Bank (IDB) signed six agreements with the Egyptian government worth $3.875 billion. The agreements include a petroleum refinery in Assiut with lease financing of $198 million, an Egyptian-Saudi Electricity Connection project with lease financing of $220 million, and the Sharm al-Sheikh Airport Development project with two tranches of lease financing of $226.8 million and $230.2 million.
  • Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris said he was ready to invest $500 million in infrastructure, and the energy and transportation sectors.
  • Egypt, the UAE and France signed an MOU on the sidelines of the conference for support in the fields of information technology and renewable energy. 

Oil, Gas, and Mining Sector

Agreements signed in oil, gas and mining sectors have been valued at a total of $23.5 billion.

  • General Electric is investing $200 million in a manufacturing and training facility near the Suez Canal. GE has also delivered thirty-four gas turbines to Egypt as part of a $1.9 billion power project.
  • $41 million (40 million euros) from France as a sovereign loan to finance a power plant in Kom Ombo in Upper Egypt.
  • Egypt signed a deal with British Petroleum (BP) worth $12 billion over four years, that will produce 3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. This is reportedly the biggest single foreign investment in Egypt’s history.
  • Italian petroleum company Eni signed heads of agreement with the Egyptian government worth $5 billion for the next five years.
  • The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation signed a $3 billion agreement with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (an affiliate of the Islamic Development Bank) to import petroleum products for the Egyptian market over the next three years.
  • The Egyptian government signed an agreement with Carbon Holdings Limited Company to bear 26 percent ($1.89 billion) of the $7.3 billion cost to build the Liberation Petrochemical Company.
  • British energy company BG will invest $4 billion in Egypt over the next two years.
  • Egypt and Cyprus signed a memorandum of information exchange over the possible establishment of a natural gas pipeline from Cyprus’s Aphrodite field to Egypt.
  • UAE’s Dana Gas agreed to invest $350 million in Egypt’s gas industry.

Electricity & Power

MOUs worth around $22 billion were signed by Egypt’s Electricity Minister,

  • Egypt signed an MOU worth $2.4 billion with ACWA Power International of Saudi Arabia and Masdar of UAE to construct power plants, including solar plants and a wind plant.
  • Egypt signed another MOU with ACWA Power International for the construction of a coal power plant. Investments total $7 billion and the production capacity will be 4,000 megawatts. The memorandums were signed in the presence of Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Saudi finance minister and Sultan Al-Jaber, UAE minister of state.
  • Siemens International and Egypt’s Ministry of Electricity signed four MOUs worth $10.5 billion to construct several conventional power plants with a total production capacity of 6,600 megawatts, as well as a factory to produce equipment for wind energy farms and transformers.
  • Sawiris’s Orascom Construction together with Emirati-based International Petroleum Investment Company (IPIC), plans to build a $2.5 billion – $3 billion coal-fired power station on the Red Sea. Orascom Construction also said banks have offered the company up to $1.95 billion in syndicated loans for the development of a power plant.
  • Two international consortiums sign memorandums of understanding for two solar power plants with a total production capacity of 5,000 megawatts. The first consortium is led by Sky Power Global, the largest developer of solar energy projects worldwide, and a Gulf company to construct a solar power plant to produce 3,000 megawatts over five years. The second consortium, composed of Switzerland-based Terra Nex, and Terra Sola, based in Bahrain, will construct a solar power plant to produce 2,000 megawatts.
  • China’s State Grid signed an agreement worth $1.8 billion with the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company to develop Egypt’s electricity transmission grid.

Housing

Egypt’s housing minister signed four memoranda of understanding worth a total of $13.5 billion to develop real estate and tourism projects on the outskirts of Cairo.  

  • Egyptian real estate developer Palm Hills and Emirati investment company Aabar signed an MOU worth $19.7 billion with the  Ministry of Housing to implement a real estate project in 6 October city.
  • The Housing Ministry signed two agreements with Egypt’s Mountain View and Saudi Arabia’s Sisban Holdings for two real estate projects. The first project is the development of 500 acres (202 hectares) in New Cairo at a cost of $3 billion, and the second is 470 acres in 6th of October City at a cost of $2.7 billion.
  • American private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings plans to invest in Egypt’s real estate sector.

Retail

Emirati mall operator Majid Al-Futtaim signed an MOU with Egypt to invest $655 million (5 billion Egyptian pounds) in eight projects over five years. The eight projects include four retail centres in new cities, and four shopping centres in Cairo.

Food

  • The UAE’s al-Swidan Group signed two deals worth $6 billion with Egypt to invest in the Suez Canal Development Project and Damietta’a grain logistic hub.
  • Beyti company announced it will invest $4 billion in Egypt’s food industry. The international company plans to establish a juice factory in Beheira.
  • PepsiCo agreed to invest $500 million in 2015 expanding its production.

Transportation and Logistics

Egypt signed six agreements for logistics and transportation projects worth a total of $2.2 billion.

  • Dubai International Ports Company will invest $415 million in a station at Ain Sokhna port.
  • Chinese AVIC International Holding company has agreed to manufacture train carriages and an electric train at a cost of $1 billion.
North Africa

Image: Photo: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi delivers his speech next to volunteers during the closing session of Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) in Sharm el-Sheikh March 15, 2015. (Reuters/Abdallah Dalsh)