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Arab Finance: Egypt's investment, industry, finance, planning, labor, and tourism ministers met with World Bank representatives to discuss the executive plan for a foreign direct investment (FDI) strategy aimed at boosting investment inflows and aligning them with the country's development priorities.
The meeting focused on identifying sectors that will be prioritized for investment promotion, as well as the policy incentives, reforms, and promotional mechanisms needed to support the strategy.
Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh said the current phase requires stronger government coordination to determine priority sectors and improve policies for attracting FDI, adding that technical meetings will be held this week to review proposed sectors and implementation mechanisms.
Being developed in cooperation with the World Bank and relevant government entities, the strategy will be officially launched after government approval and will be linked to priority development sectors and modern supply chains.
World Bank representatives presented an implementation framework based on economic data analysis, FDI indicators, global value chain studies, and consultations with government institutions, the private sector, and international stakeholders.
The World Bank has identified 13 sectors under the strategy's preliminary framework, while consultations with the Egyptian government continue to finalize the list. The evaluation methodology incorporates criteria including export potential, energy considerations, economic resilience, sector attractiveness, competitiveness, and developmental impact.
The World Bank said upcoming discussions will focus on completing technical consultations, developing implementation frameworks, linking the strategy to supportive reforms and policies, and establishing monitoring and impact assessment mechanisms.
Minister of Industry Khaled Hashem said Egypt recently updated its industrial strategy, which aims to raise industrial exports to $100 billion by 2030. The strategy identifies seven priority industries alongside enabling, strategic, and complementary sectors.
Hashem noted that closer integration between industrial and investment policies is essential to direct investments toward high-value-added productive sectors and strengthen the competitiveness of Egyptian industry in regional and international markets.
Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Ahmed Kouchouk stressed the importance of improving the quality and scope of economic data to better reflect the size of Egypt's economy and enhance the accuracy of FDI indicators, calling for stronger institutional coordination and improved data collection systems to support policymaking.
As for Minister of Planning and Economic Development Ahmed Rostom, he highlighted the need to strengthen data collection systems and integrate risk management into the investment strategy, including assessing sectors based on their ability to withstand economic shocks.
For his part, Minister of Labor Hassan Raddad said the FDI strategy should be aligned with Egypt's National Employment Strategy, which targets the creation of about 1.4 million jobs annually through 2030 by supporting investment, workforce development, and labor-intensive sectors.
Furthermore, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Sherif Fathy pointed out that expanding hotel capacity remains a priority for achieving Egypt's goal of attracting 30 million tourists annually by 2030.
He added that the use of advanced analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) in tourism promotion has strengthened Egypt's competitiveness in international markets.
Finally, officials attending the meeting emphasized the need for greater coordination across government agencies and a more development-oriented approach to investment promotion, with policies and reforms designed to channel investment into priority sectors. The final list of target sectors remains under consultation before supportive reforms and promotional programs are rolled out.
