By: Yasmine Fouda
On 28 July 2017, the 2nd session of the Egyptian- Romanian Joint Ministerial Committee for Economic and Scientific Cooperation was held in the Romanian capital "Bucharest" chaired by the Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Dr. Sahar Nasr and the Romanian Secretary of State at the Ministry of Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship Mr. Harry Ilan Laufer. The Egyptian delegation featured the Egyptian Ambassador to Bucharest Mr. Salah Abdel Sadiq and representatives from the Ministries of Investment & International Cooperation, Foreign Affairs, Petroleum, Health, Agriculture, Electricity, Tourism, Communications, Transportation, Higher Education, Irrigation, and Trade as well as a delegation from businessmen interested in cooperation with Romania. The Minister emphasized the significance of the committee, which had not been convened since 2010, in enhancing fruitful cooperation between both countries, highlighting the importance of its regular convention to achieve a quantum leap in the history of Egyptian- Romanian relations dating back to over 100 years. It is worth noting that the 100th anniversary of diplomatic relations between both countries was celebrated last April, given that political relations between them enjoy stability and a good level of coordination in several regional and international issues. Egypt took legislative procedures to provide an adequate attractive investment climate and mobilized efforts to launch several mega national projects, indicated the Minister. Moreover, the Minister referred to the Egyptian political leadership's keenness on establishing powerful and effective relations with the Romanian side. This is in addition to considering the possibility of setting up Romanian projects within the scope of the Suez Canal Development project as well as other fields in which Romania has comparative advantages such as transportation (railways and the river bus project) and energy. The Minister further expressed her aspirations to increase Romanian investments in Egypt to reach the desired level, given that the volume of such investments increased to approximately USD 88.32 million in 60 companies distributed to several fields, topped by tourism, industry, services, information technology, construction and agriculture. Informal statistics, according to the Minister, indicated that Egyptian investments in Romania reached up to USD 100 million, which reflects Egypt's increasing investment presence in Romania. The Minister added that Egyptian companies worked in fields such as production and marketing of food, wood, pharmaceuticals, and real estate development, noting that the new Investment Law provided great guarantees to investors, thereby encouraging the increase of Romanian investments in Egypt. In addition, the Minister shed light on Egypt's full willingness to cooperate with Romania in industry, given that Romania had a distinguished industrial base and an extensive experience in the field of transportation, and the production of train carriages, river transportation as well as the manufacturing of electric and agricultural equipment. The Romanian side, in turn, can benefit from Egypt's comparative advantages in the fields of pharmaceuticals, information technology, furniture, ceramic and garments as well as entrepreneurship, given that MIIC recently established Egypt's Company for Entrepreneurship to support small investors. The Minister laid emphasis on the necessity of activating agreements signed between both sides and the role of businessmen in both countries through organising meetings and exchanging visits between businessmen delegations so as to learn about the available investment opportunities, procedures and reforms recently carried out in both countries, particularly following the issuance of the new Investment Law in Egypt. Finally, the Minister wished that the committee would result in injecting further mutual investment, facilitating the exchange of scientific knowledge and enhancing cooperation in the database development, besides paving the way for the private sector in both countries which, in turn, would provide an adequate business climate. At the conclusion of the committee's work, the Minister signed with the Romanian side a cooperation protocol between both countries in the economic and scientific field as well as an MOU for cooperation between MIIC in Egypt and the Ministry of Business Environment, Commerce and Entrepreneurship in Romania and 3 MOUs in the agricultural field, SMEs, water resources and irrigation. The Minister further witnessed the signing of an MOU for cooperation between Constanta Port in Romanian and the Alexandria Port Authority.
