Al Fardan made the remarks in a meeting of the members of the board of directors of the Qatar Chamber and the QBA with Egypt’s Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, who is currently on his first official visit to Doha, the Egyptian Cabinet said in a statement.
The QBA is fully ready to develop the partnership with the Egyptian private sector in a way that enhances the economies of both Egypt and Qatar and formulates a firm alliance that is capable of confronting global challenges, Al Fardan said.
He invited the Egyptian business community to explore the investment opportunities in the Gulf country in many fields, including industry, information, tourism, health, and education.
For his part, Madbouly affirmed Egypt’s readiness to put in place any incentives that would encourage investments in the various Egyptian sectors.
Earlier today, Egyptian Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said told Bloomberg that Egypt and Qatar are considering creating a joint investment fund.
During their meeting with Madbouly, the Qatari investors affirmed their desire for the speedy establishment of the joint investment fund between the two sides with a large amount of capital in the near future.
The Qatari investors discussed the projects they are willing to carry out in Egypt in many areas, including food industries, health, tourism, and information technology.
One of the investors also said he looks forward to building a group of hotels in Egypt.
During Madbouly’s visit to Doha, Egypt and Qatar also signed a dual taxation elimination agreement that aims to boost Qatari investment, as well as three MOUs that aim to boost and support healthcare services in Egypt.
Egyptian Minister of Finance Mohamed Maait also noted today that negotiations are underway to sign more agreements with the Qatari side in the area of customs.
Chairman of the GCC Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani said he hopes the Qatari businessmen’s meeting with Madbouly achieves its goals in enhancing the cooperation with Egypt and building Egyptian-Qatari partnerships.
He noted that the trade exchange between the two countries saw remarkable progress in recent years, amounting to 350 million Qatari riyals in 2022, up by 46 percent from 239 million Qatari riyals in 2021, and by 120 percent from 2020.
In a meeting with Madbouly on Monday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad also affirmed that the Gulf state will increase the size of its investments in Egypt in the near future.
Egyptian-Qatari relations
Egypt and Qatar have boosted their relations on all levels and exchanged high-level visits in the wake of the Al-Ula declaration for Arab reconciliation with Qatar, which Egypt signed in Saudi Arabia in January 2021.
The two countries recently celebrated in December their 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
The visit comes a few weeks after Egypt and Qatar held the first meeting of their diplomatic teams in charge of coordinating regional affairs.
In September, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi made his first visit to Doha since assuming the presidency in 2014, where he held talks with Qatar’s Emir Tamim and witnessed the signing of a number of MoUs between the two countries.
In June, the Qatari leader also made his first visit to Egypt since the two countries resumed their diplomatic relations.
In the same month, the two countries signed an MoU on financial policy coordination to foster cooperation and coordinate financial visions, positions, and policies at the bilateral and international levels
The two countries also announced in March 2022 establishing a high joint committee headed by their foreign ministers to boost cooperation and coordination in all fields as well as to continue consultation.
The announcement came during a visit by Qatari Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdul-Rahman Al-Thani to Cairo.
During Abdulrahman’s visit, Egypt and Qatar agreed on a package of $5 billion in investments and partnerships in Egypt within “the framework of boosting economic cooperation between the two brotherly countries.”
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