Trade Mission to Egypt The Road to Green Economy

The Egyptian British Chamber of Commerce (EBCC) in partnership with Department of International Trade (DIT) have organised a three-day business mission to Egypt from 27-30 of March 2022. The delegation included delegates from 18 different companies.

As Egypt prepares to host COP27 in November 2022, the mission’s focus on clean growth and sustainable projects in Egypt, to showcase opportunities for joint projects between British and Egyptian companies in key sectors such as infrastructure, energy, and finance.

The delegation started with a morning briefing with HMA Gareth Bayley summarising the current political and economic situation in Egypt. The ambassador spoke about the resilient economic climate in Egypt, the progress H.E has witnessed since his last visit and how Egypt is a desirable place to invest.

The ambassador has discussed the stable political state Egypt has reached since 2011 and how the current government is keen to create a positive business environment for investment opportunities.

The briefing was followed by an infrastructure committee meeting with the ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban communities discussing green projects leading up to the COP27. In this meeting, the ministry discussed the different projects for Green Cities and water projects in the pipeline.

The sector development policy will depend on three main pillars: Improving drinking water, improving operational systems and strengthening the sector’s framework at the national level.

In the afternoon, the delegation met with His excellency Eng. Mohamed Shaker minister of electricity and renewable energy where he discussed the ministry’s electrical energy transformation, and show cased the scale of projects that have been accomplished in Egypt in the past period and upcoming investment opportunities.

This was followed by a meeting with Dr Ahmed Kouchouk deputy minister of finance who gave an overview to the delegates and answered their questions about Egypt’s financial plan in the coming period following the latest measures and expected mitigations of any repercussions.

In the evening, a networking reception took place at the residence of the British Ambassador where 120 business leaders from both Egyptian and British companies had a chance to meet, connect and discuss partnerships. The reception started with welcoming remarks from HMA Gareth Bayley to welcome the delegation followed by opening remarks from Ian Gray, OBE Chairman of the EBCC who expressed his gratitude for the in-person meetings after two years of COVID-19 restrictions and how great it is to have many British companies to be part of this delegation. Aden Nguyen, Chief Business Officer at The National Bank of Egypt in the UK, also spoke about the bank’s efforts in supporting sustainable development and plans for continuous support to the new ways of life, he also demonstrated the progress the Bank is undergoing giving examples of their newest products and the upcoming change in the near future.

On the second day, the delegation had the chance to visit the New Administrative Capital to see the latest developments and massive progress that took place in a short span of time demonstrating a perfect example of sustainability and green cities initiatives. The visit started with an overview of the whole project and the latest developments in terms of what has been achieved. The New Capital is a smart city integrating infrastructure to provide many services. This was followed by a tour of the city’s main attractions, the new government’s

“As part of our Green Partnership between the UK and Egypt, we are committed to working together with Egypt to ensure that COP27 builds on the legacy of COP26 and that Egypt realises its ambitious sustainable energy strategy and continues on its path to clean growth. The private sector will be essential to this success. We want to unleash the potential of green finance to engage and support British and Egyptian businesses, including sustainable infrastructure, renewable energy projects and green finance. The Road to Green Economy trade mission by the Egyptian-British Chamber of Commerce is an important step in building bridges between UK and Egypt that will strengthen our trade relationship and drive our mutual clean economic growth.” headquarters, the highest residential tower in the Middle East, an impressive mosque to cater for thousands of prayers as well as a state of the art cathedral, which is considered one of the biggest in the region.

In the evening, the Chamber organized a reception for B2B meetings where Egyptian companies met the delegation on one-to-

“After over 2 years of COVID-19 restrictions it is great for so many UK companies to have come with EBCC to Cairo looking for partners and opportunities in particular with the private sector. We have all been stopped from traveling and, now that we can, all these executives have put Egypt at the top of their list of countries to visit. I am looking for Egyptian companies to meet us and discover their opportunities! “

Ian Gray, OBE Chairman of EBCC

one basis and discussed opportunities for collaboration.

The last day was concluded with a meeting with H.E Kamel El Wazir who welcomed the delegation and discussed collaboration projects that would match with the British know how and expertise. He gave an overview of the opportunities in Egypt leading up to COP27.