The record which drags since almost a year is on the right track

Cancelled for reason of health last fall, the official visit of Jacques Chirac in Egypt should be held on 19 and 20 April. On this occasion, the President of the Republic could formalize the outcome of negotiations between Paris and Cairo for a conversion from the Egyptian debt in French investments. The record, which drags since almost a year, is on the right track. "The contacts resumed in a positive way since January," admits now at Bercy where an estimated "possible" an announcement during the presidential visit. On the side of Egyptian, where it has long dragged feet, it is less verbose. It is true that the point of view of Cairo, the amounts involved in this discussion are minimal: EUR 47.5 million, then the whole of the Egyptian debt to France roughly 4 billion. And this will be far from allow to solve the economic problems of Egypt.

Investment promotion

Cairo, which is aware that the development and opening up its economy through foreign investments, working hard to promote its economic reforms. "We are no longer a mere monitoring body, our role is to facilitate the implementation of foreign investment," says El Din Ziad, President of the FATF, the Egyptian agency responsible for the promotion of investment. And to clarify that it is now possible to incorporate a company "in three days against several months earlier. El Din Ziad ensures that a growing number of foreign companies interested in Egypt: "major investors are, in order of importance, the countries of the Gulf, and then the British, French, Japanese and, recently, some US investment funds." Indeed, after several years of near stagnation past three foreign investment have been multiplied by three in the financial year 2004-2005, even if amounts ($1.3 billion) remain limited. And Cairo table on an increase of 20 to 25 in the 2005-2006 year, which ends late July. Number of companies already located agree to recognize the greater Egyptian involvement of the authorities. "We have the impression that the authorities support us and make the efforts make life easier us", admit officials of BP Egypt and British Gas.

Assets for relocations

Successive reforms: restructuring of the banking sector through privatization, reform of the customs code (with down up five points of the average taxation of products), reduction in tax on profit of companies. But they still faced reluctant. "The bureaucracy remains burdensome," says Vincenzo Nesci, President of Alcatel Egypt. This has not prevented the French, this group since 1998, to establish his headquarters for the Middle East region and develop its business from the "smart village", real showcase of the country, located on the outskirts of Cairo. The Egyptian authorities to rely on this site to attract relocation projects.

They are also on the development of the QIZ (qualified industrial zones), born of the partnership agreement between Egypt, the United States and Israel. It provides access to the U.S. market without quotas and customs duties to products manufactured in these QIZS, as they contain at least 11 of Israeli components. The success is the appointment. In textiles, for example, "60 of the production of these areas is exported to the United States and 30 to Europe", said Magdy Tolba, President of the Cairo Cotton Center. Insisting on the strengths of proximity and costs presented by Egypt to China, he believes that the Egyptian textile industry is on track. "We are witnessing relocations of companies which were in Turkey and come into Egypt," he says. Only absent: French companies.