On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Crown Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, chaired the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's delegation participating at Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC), which started in the city of Sharm El Sheikh today. Crown Prince Muqrin arrived earlier in the day where he was received at the conference venue by President Abdulfattah Al-Sisi of Egypt. Then the Crown Prince and the leaders of the other delegations, escorted by President Al-Sisi, headed for the conference room. Then the first session of the conference started. Crown Prince Muqrin conveyed to the conferees the greetings of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, wishing the conference every success. He thanked the Egyptian government for warm welcome and generous hospitality. He recalled that late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has proposed convening this conference and effectively shared with the United Arab Emirates and host Egypt the preparations for the event, confirming the deep-rooted interest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the stability and prosperity of Egypt. Days proved the firmness of our relations with Egypt and that it takes no time to overcome any misunderstandings through the wisdom of the two countries' leaderships and those in charge at the official and private sectors, he added. He said Saudi Arabia is the biggest foreign investor in Egypt while Egypt comes among the largest 20 exporting countries to the Kingdom and the 24th importer from the Kingdom. He said this indicates that there is room to boost these relations due to the potentials of the two economies, citing the effective Saudi private sector participation in the preparations for and interest in this conference as a reflection of the Saudi businessmen desire to invest in Egypt. He drew the attention to the latest political and security developments in the region, negatively affecting the graph of cross-country economic cooperation in our region. He cited the spread of terror acts as one of the reasons behind the negative developmental progress in the region. He reiterated the Kingdom's denunciation of the terror acts in Egypt aiming at derailing the developmental drive in the country. He announced Saudi Arabia's firm position behind Egypt in the fight of terrorism and extremism. He demanded the world community to evade dual criterion towards what is going on in Egypt, calling on them to support the efforts being exerted by the Egyptian government to bolster stability and development. Saudi Arabia has closely followed the implementation of the political road map and a number of high-expectation economic reforms done by the Egyptian government and underscores the importance of Egypt's proceeding of this endeavor in a way that enhances confidence and sparks optimism leading to signs of improvement of the Egyptian economy. He said the conference represents a chance to confirm Egypt's government to remain committed to implement the necessary economic and structural reforms and highlight the mid-term economic and developmental program of Egypt that helps attract more domestic and foreign investments. Proceeding from the well-established historical and shared future, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia continued supporting brethren Egypt, at all levels, as it provided it with unrecoverable loans, grants and soft-loans, he said adding, that the Kingdom also provided financial aid and petroleum donations, during the past time, to support Egyptian Government efforts to reinforce Egyptian economy recovery. In pursuance of the Kingdom stance supporting Egypt and its stability, Crown Prince Muqrin announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will provide Egypt with a package of assistance worth $ 4 billion, $ 2 billion as a deposit at the Egyptian Central Bank coffers, while the remainder would be distributed as development aid through the Saudi Development Fund, financing and guaranteeing Saudi exports to Egypt via the Saudi Exports Program and investments in various projects of Saudi-Egyptian private sectors and international investors. He confirmed the importance of the international community support for Egypt to meet its exigent development needs and assist Egyptian Government in putting the economy on a sustainable path. From this perspective, we welcome the collaboration of both the World Bank and the IMF and other international financial institutions, in the conference, praising their technical as well as fiscal contributions, asking them to provide it with more aid, in the future, he said. He thanked, in particular, the Group of Islamic Development Bank and Arab financial and development funds and institutions for the support they provide for Egypt, with, anticipating that they would keep leading with this support, reinforce partnerships with world financial institutions to mobilize fiscal resources to support projects and programs of Egypt. In a key opening speech earlier, President Abdulfattah Al-Sisi of Egypt recalled that late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has called for the convening of this conference, lauding the continuation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to follow-up until it now became a reality. He gave an account on the steps taken by his government to push the economy to new horizons.
