Interview: Energy deals meant to help build Egypt's future: Siemens CEO

The energy agreements between Siemens and Egypt, which are worth ten billion euro (about 10.6 billion U.S. dollars), are meant to help the country build its aspired future, Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser has recently told Xinhua in an exclusive interview.

During the three-day Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) that concluded on Sunday, Siemens signed four energy transactions with the Egyptian government, including two binding agreements and two MoUs, on power generation, distribution and management.

"The first transaction is to build in Beni Suef province a 4.4-gigawatt (GW) power plant, which is the biggest power plant ever built, so it is going to be huge, very important and very effective," the Siemens chief explained.

He added that another agreement was to build two GW of wind power generation capacity and wind rotor blade factory together with the Egyptian government.

"It will deliver two GW of renewable wind power in the next five to seven years and will provide up to 1,000 new jobs," Kaeser said, noting that the factory will also provide training for 500 young Egyptians.

He pointed out that the agreements are "binding" and that both sides are working on the details of the final contracts, "but the agreements are firm."

Representatives from around 90 countries, including some heads of states, and 25 organizations and international institutions, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), took part in the EEDC held in the Red Sea resort, Sharm El-Sheikh.

The Siemens chief met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi during the event and offered the corporation's willingness to contribute to the country's economic future.

"I told President Sisi that we have been in this country for 150 years and we have seen crises come and go, so we want to help you and your society to build the future," Kaeser told Xinhua.

Last summer, most Egyptian provinces, including the capital Cairo, suffered recurrent power outages due to the shortage of natural gas, despite the huge energy subsidies, though cut down recently, provided to large factories in the most populous Arab country.

Kaeser said that his corporation, which operates in over 200 countries, always listens to market demands and makes money by helping the society.

"I believe that one of the decisive reasons why this company has existed for more than 167 years is that it always looked at what it can do for the society to make money, not how to use the society to make money," he said.

Egypt's economy has been suffering over the past four years largely due to two major waves of popular protests in early 2011 and mid-2013, in which the two heads of state, long-time President Hosni Mubarak and Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, were ousted respectively.

During the EEDC, IMF chief Christine Lagarde commended the recent Egyptian economic reforms and said that Egypt's "journey to higher growth is already underway."

Egypt's credit rating also improved as the country's debt was upgraded in late 2014 from B- to B by Fitch Ratings, which praised the government's efforts to reduce budget deficits.

Kaeser said that Egypt's economic improvement was not the real motivation behind their dealing with the country in such massive prospect energy projects.

"It is not much economic factors honestly. We just felt this could be the time now that the Egyptian leadership is strong and dedicated enough to lead the 90 million Egyptian people to the next level of development," he said.

The senior businessman said that Siemens is also attracted by the number of population in a country that it deals with, noting that his company is concerned with projects that serve the society, including energy, infrastructure, industrialization and healthcare.

"Egypt has 90 million people currently, and it will be about 150 million people likely by 2030 or 2050, so this is a lot of dynamics to address," Kaeser told Xinhua.

He added that wherever there is a crisis there is an opportunity, and wherever there is an opportunity there is a risk, stressing that his company focuses on what a society needs and sets priorities accordingly. Endit