Egypt’s Charming Of Qatar

Qatar and Egypt’s relations are warming with vows to increase investments between the two countries and to establish trade alliances and partnerships over a meeting in Doha.

Panorama of Cairo cityscape taken during the sunset from the famous Cairo tower, Cairo, Egypt

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly called on the business sector in Qatar to invest in his country, meeting with representatives of the Qatar Chamber and the Qatari Businessmen Association.
Chairperson of Qatar Chamber HE Sheikh Bin Jassim said that he hoped that the meeting would promote mutual investments to reach higher volumes of trade, which witnessed remarkable development in recent years. Bin Jassim revealed that the trade exchange recorded between Qatar and Egypt was of QAR 350 million in 2022, up 46% from QAR 239 million in 2021.
Three memorandums of understanding were signed with Qatari companies for the provision of healthcare services during PM Madbouly’s visit to Doha, confirming the Egyptian interest in attracting the Qatari private sector to Egypt.
PM Madbouly spoke of adopting reforms and incentives to facilitate cooperation on projects and that “Egypt is prepared to approve laws on more tax incentives, including exempting investors from 55 percent of the taxes they pay in their investment field. He underlined that Egypt focuses on promoting the private sector’s economic participation” according to Asharq Al-Awsat.
Attention was drawn to sectors with “feasible opportunities” such as food security, agriculture, industry, real estate, advanced industries and technologies, with the mention that private sector investment in Egyptian local industries would help the state reduce the foreign currency deficit.
Gulf countries have reportedly earmarked $10 billion for Egypt to help it weather the foreign exchange crisis although they have been cautious given the pound’s three devaluations in the space of a year. The PM took the opportunity to announce that the exchange rate issue would soon be solved.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt had visited the Emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, in Doha in September last year. The visit to bolster diplomatic and economic marked the first attempt in four years, signalling a new era in relations between the two countries and an end to the hostilities between Cairo and Doha that had led Egypt to participate in a blockade of Qatar, along with Bahrain, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Agreements were signed during this first visit, also related to boosting trade.

Egypt faced substantial political challenges in the last decade, which led the country to focus on developing and strengthening infrastructure, infrastructure which Egypt deems ripe for investment from Qatari businessmen.