Interview: Large turnout at Egypt economic conference shows economy growth: Emirati minister

Attracting a large number of world leading figures to its economic shows growth and development of Egypt's economy and indicates that the country has developed a better investment environment, an Emirati minister told Xinhua in an exclusive interview on Saturday.

The United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Minister of State Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber said Egypt's economy is heading in the right direction, stressing his country's "unlimited support" for the fellow Arab state.

Around 90 countries, some of them represented by heads of states, 25 organizations and international institutions, as well as world top economists and diplomats, took part in the ongoing three-day Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC), held from March 13 to 15 at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

The EEDC, inaugurated by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, was attended by 20 heads of states including those of Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan, Palestine and Ethiopia, in addition to the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a number of foreign senior officials.

"But for the healthiness of the Egyptian economic system, it wouldn't have attracted those world leading figures, high-profile political leaders and world economic organizations and investment institutions," said Al-Jaber.

The Emirati minister illustrated that all the Egyptian economic indicators have recently been positive, including the rising number of job opportunities, the increasing growth rate and the growing foreign investments.

During the EEDC, Germany's Siemens signed on Saturday four memos of understanding with Egypt to establish power stations worth more than 10 billion dollars and the leading British Petroleum (BP) inked a 9-billion-dollar energy deal with the country.

As for the UAE, the Emirati minister expressed hope that his country would focus its investments in Egypt in the sectors of energy, electricity, transport and infrastructure.

The oil-rich country was among the Gulf states, excluding Qatar, that generously supported the new Egyptian leadership following the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood-oriented President Mohamed Morsi by the military after June 2013 mass protests against his one-year rule.

"We have a lot of projects in Egypt since June 2013 that helped create 900,000 job opportunities and serve about 10 million Egyptians," said Al-Jaber, who also leads the coordination office for the Emirate development projects in Egypt.

He added that the EEDC represents a very important step in Egypt's economic map "and after the great success it showed, we hope that Egypt proves in the future its worthiness of such investments and its ability to sustain them."

During the opening session of the conference, the Gulf states of the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman pledged 12.5 billion U.S. dollars in the form of aids and investments for Egypt.

The UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced that his country offered Egypt four billion dollars including two billion as deposit in the Central Bank of Egypt and the other two billion for reviving the Egyptian economy, noting that the UAE assisted Egypt with 14 billion dollars over the past two years.

"We are in Egypt today to offer our help and support amid the tough conditions the country went through over the past four years," Al-Jaber said, referring to the political turmoil that hit Egypt since the 2011 uprising that led to the ouster of long-time President Hosni Mubarak.

Describing relations with Egypt as "distinguished," the Emirati senior official commended Egypt's status in the Arab world and "the central role it plays on the regional and international levels." Endit