CAIRO: American companies operating in Egypt plan to pump more investments and secure more jobs for youth after security conditions in Egypt stabilize. Minister of Trade and Industry Samiha Fawzi had talks earlier with members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, which groups major American companies. The heads of American companies said they understand the nature of the stage through which Egypt is passing and will support the Egyptian economy and seek solving workers' problems to efficiently accomplish their jobs. Participants in the meeting said they will organize a media campaign at the Egyptian and international levels to promote investment in Egypt, the Global Arab Network reported Wednesday. This will coincide with the implementation of the Egyptian government plan to dispatch promotion missions to a number of foreign and Arab countries. The companies lauded the efforts exerted by the Armed Forces to protect their factories. About 42 companies took part in the meeting, including General Motors, Pepsi Cola, Procter & Gamble, Metro, Cash & Carry, Unilever and others. Moreover, Samiha Fawzi urged support for the Egyptian small and medium-sized enterprises which were negatively affected by the recent turmoil in the country. Speaking at a press conference at the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF), Fawzi said her Ministry will cooperate with the local development ministry to support the ventures. Fawzi, who also oversees the investment portfolio, said the ministry will promote the investment sector, which is, she said, key to strengthen Egypt's economy. The ministry would dispatch representatives in the coming few days to several countries to tout Egypt's investment potentials, she said. Among those countries will be the UAE, Kuwait and France, she noted. The ministerial group of following up economic performance held its second meeting on Sunday to discuss the national program to spur economic activities, employment and income as well as the development corridor project. Minister of Finance Samir Radwan said Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq gives great attention to development corridor project. He demanded the ministerial group to put needed mechanisms to start immediately the implementation of the project. Cabinet spokesman Magdi Radi announced that development corridor project will have an integrated program that has non-governmental structure and not influenced by bureaucracy. Egypt's Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq had talks earlier with the ministers of international cooperation, electricity, finance and housing as well as the head of the Cabinet's Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC), Cabinet Spokesman Magdi Radi said. The meeting falls within the framework of efforts to revive Egypt's economy, The talks tackled means of creating jobs, rebuilding the infrastructure and establishing more projects to make up for the economic losses sustained during the revolution. The talks also touched on means of securing housing units for low-income brackets, the spokesman said.
