Egypt’s Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouly inaugurated on Tuesday the first intra-trade fair in Africa and announced that Cairo was seeking to double its investments in the continent within five years.
“The volume of Egypt’s investments in the continent is estimated at $8 billion. This has contributed to the creation of tens of thousands of jobs, especially in the sectors of construction, infrastructure, energy, mining, agriculture, communications and information technology,” the premier said, adding that his country’s trade with its African brothers reached around $5 billion.
Madbouly visited Tanzania on Monday to attend the signing ceremony for the Stiegler’s Gorge Hydroelectric Power Station, which will be built by an Egyptian company.
Speaking on behalf of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the fair on Tuesday, Madbouly thanked the African Union and the African Export and Import Bank for their efforts to make the exhibition a success and to work for the achievement of integration among the countries of the continent.
Egypt is preparing for next year’s presidency of the African Union, and concluded in Sharm el-Sheikh a few days ago the activities of Africa Forum 2018, which was attended by a number of the continent’s presidents and leaders.
The Egyptian president highly valued “great achievements in the negotiations over the African Free Trade Agreement, which will enter into force soon, and will help the countries of the continent achieve high rates of economic growth… and enhance the competitiveness of African products at the regional and international levels.”
