During the opening session of the Egypt Conference, the Gateway to Sustainable Investments for Africa

28/09/2021

During the opening session of the Egypt Conference, the Gateway to Sustainable Investments for Africa

Nevine Kashmiry - Deputy Managing Director for Business Sector - The United Bank, Egypt is proud of its African identity and works to integrate the efforts of African countries to maximize sustainable development rates by 2063

•    The black continent represents the strategic and historical dimension of Egypt.
•    The Egyptian economy plays a pivotal role among the economies of the continent's countries.
•    Commercial, investment and cultural dimensions of Egyptian-African relations.
•    The Central Bank's stimulus policy to support investors and address Corona crisis.
•    An agreement between The United Bank in cooperation with The African Export and Import Bank to support investors and exporters.
•    The United Bank's digital financial solutions support investors and maximize the volume of trade exchange.

Cairo: September 28th, 2021

In her speech today at the opening session, of “Egypt is the Gateway to Sustainable Investments in Africa, Nevine Kashmiry, Deputy Managing Director of Business Sectors at The United Bank, confirmed that Egypt is proud of its African identity.

Pointing out that the Egyptian-African relations have a special nature in light of the geographical extension and the historical and strategic ties that link Egypt to the countries of the African continent.

The conference was inaugurated by Ambassador Mohamed Oraby, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of Svend Olling, Ambassador of Denmark.  The conference was attended by a large number of ambassadors of African countries and representatives of trade missions and Egyptian and African investment companies. As well as a number of financial institutions, African and cultural unions, in addition to a group of media professionals, organized by Viber Company for Development and Consulting.

The black continent represents the strategic and historical dimension of Egypt.
During her speech, Nevine Kashmiry was keen to highlight Egypt's pivotal role in Africa. The black continent represents the strategic and historical dimension of Egypt. She praised the success of the Egyptian state in restoring its leading role on the economic, political, cultural and health levels.

The Egyptian economy plays a pivotal role among the economies of the countries of the continent.
Nevine Kashmiry explained that the Egyptian economy plays a vital role among the economies of the continent on a number of dimensions, including: trade exchange, exports and imports, and the investment dimension, especially in the field of infrastructure as well as the cultural dimension.

In 2020, Egypt was ranked the second after Nigeria in terms of the value of the nominal GDP, which amounted to 375 billion US dollars, and it is expected that the Egyptian economy will continue to achieve positive growth rates during the current year to drive continental economic growth rates despite the challenges facing the global economy In light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

First: Trade exchange, as Egypt was the second largest trading power in the continent after South Africa, where the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and the world in 2020 amounted to 87 billion US dollars, and Egypt was the fourth largest exporter in the African continent after South Africa, Nigeria and Morocco, and the second largest Importer on the level of the continent after South Africa. It was expected that the African Continental Free Trade Zone, which entered into force early this year, will contribute to increasing the intra-African trade movement and increasing Egyptian exports to the African countries.

This, with regard to the volume of intra-regional trade with Africa, Egypt's exports to the African continent approached 4 billion US dollars during the past year 2020, compared to 4.8 billion dollars in 2019, while the value of Egyptian imports from Africa amounted to only one billion US dollars. Compared to $2 billion in 2019, the decline in the volume of Egyptian-African trade is due to the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, which affected production rates and purchasing power in countries around the world, including African countries.

It should be noted that the most important trading partners of Egypt in the African continent are: Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Sudan and Kenya. The most important Egyptian exports to these countries are in the sectors: chemicals and fertilizers, engineering industries, building materials, food industries, while the most important Egyptian imports are from African nations are into agricultural products such as coffee, tea, tobacco, livestock and seeds.

It is worth noting that there are many opportunities available for the growth of Egyptian exports to the countries of the continent in light of the good reputation of the Egyptian product in most African countries and its ability to compete in many countries of the continent, especially the countries of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), which includes in its membership 21 countries, including Egypt, and Egyptian exports to these countries enjoy complete customs exemption in light of the advantages offered by the agreement for products of Egyptian origin. It is also expected that the African Free Trade Zone Agreement, upon its implementation, will provide an opportunity to increase Egyptian exports to African countries.

Second: The investment dimension, as Egypt is one of the most important investment destinations in African countries, and Egypt is working to attract more foreign investments in various investment sectors, as well as strengthening the Egyptian investment presence in African countries to serve African brothers, which will contribute to the transfer of Egyptian expertise to countries African countries and increasing Egyptian exports of equipment and production inputs to serve investment objectives.

Third: The cultural dimension, as Egypt has played the coherent and coordinating role of many conferences, especially those directed at African youth, regarding the events of cultural integration among African peoples, including: the African Youth Conference and the World Youth Conference. As well as the cultural missions directed to a large number of African countries, especially the missions of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, which are concerned with introducing the principles of the moderate Islamic religion.

As well as specialized training in the field of financial and banking transactions and digital services in cooperation with the Egyptian Banking Institute.

The Central Bank's stimulus policy to support investors and faces the Corona crisis.
To complement the efforts of the Egyptian government to encourage and develop trade and investment relations between Egypt and Africa, the banking sector has a very important role to support and encourage the movement of Egyptian exports and investments to African countries. The credit risks of the movement of Egyptian exports and investments in African countries.

In addition to the possibility of coordinating with Egyptian embassies and commercial offices abroad to study investment opportunities available in African countries and to discuss the possibility of Egyptian companies participating in their implementation to encourage the movement of Egyptian investments to African countries. The banking sector can also participate in trade missions organized by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry for Egyptian companies to African countries. Targeted within the framework of the ministry's strategy to move towards African markets

An agreement between The United Bank in cooperation with the African Export-Import Bank to support investors and exporters
On the role of The United Bank in maximizing the volume of Egyptian investments in the African market, Nevine Kashmiry said that The United Bank has made great strides in managing the Egyptian-African investment file since last 2018, where The United Bank and the African Export-Import Bank announced a package of financing and insurance programs against non-payment risks and digital banking services for exporters.

The United Bank provides the necessary financing to all Egyptian exporters, whether pre-export or post-shipment for export operations secured collection.

From its side, the African Export-Import Bank guarantees the proceeds of Egyptian exports and protects them from the risk of non-payment in 50 African countries, representing a group of African banks accredited to it.

The United Bank's digital financial solutions support investors and maximize the volume of trade exchange.
The United Bank offers a range of banking services related to discounting and accelerating payment for acceptable export operations with different time periods ranging from 3 months to 7 years, and includes a guarantee service provided by the African Export and Import Bank.

The United Bank provides the necessary financing for direct export operations without bank guarantees, in African countries and African economic entities covered by the African Export-Import Bank.

The United Bank also offers a package of digital technology solutions to the masses of Egyptian investors and exporters, which is an effective tool for promoting commercial activity between countries, especially African countries. "Your Bank OnLine" for Egyptian exporters enables them to follow up on their export and commercial activities and conduct all their banking transactions without the trouble of going to the bank’s 68 branches spread all over the republic, anywhere, and in just a few seconds.

The "Your Bank OnLine" system operates 24 hours, 7 days a week, with the highest efficiency and global technology, and provides products such as internet banking for individuals and companies, mobile banking, digital wallet, and interactive automated teller machines.