Former Egyptian foreign minister Mohamed al-Orabi has invited Arab businessmen, through local chambers of commerce, to hold preliminary meeting preparing for a major economic summit Egypt had scheduled for 13-15 March.
Orabi said in a statement on Sunday that his proposed summit seeks to deliver a message by Arab investors and businessmen that they stand by Egypt in face of terrorism.
Egypt is seeking to win increased support for its economy, negatively impacted by two uprisings over the past four years, through the summit hosted in the resort town of Sharm al-Sheikh.
In his statement, Orabi said that following the bloody attacks on security in Rafah on Thursday, which left at least 30 dead, he convened with a group of economic experts, whereby they agreed on “the necessity to thwart terrorist plots seeking to foil the March conference which is Egypt’s gate to stability.”
Orabi lauded a meeting chaired on Saturday by Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb in which he stressed on the state’s eagerness to bring the March summit to success.
Orabi said he had invited the governments of Egypt and Kuwait to sponsor the conference, taking advantage of Mehleb’s visit to Kuwait on Sunday. He hoped the proposed preparatory conference would be held in Kuwait in coincidence with the kingdom’s celebration of its national day at the last week of February.
Yomna al-Hamaqy, the conference’s technical adviser, said the proposed preliminary summit would serve to emphasize on the Arab leaderships’ support for Egypt in face of terrorism. She added that according to the conference’s agenda, submitted to Mehleb, it would be held during two days.
During the conference, outlines of investment opportunities to be offered during the March summit would be presented, while opening a debate with the Arab business community over a draft investment law Egypt plans to enact before the Sharm al-Sheikh summit.
Islam al-Gammal, the conference’s executive director, said he had worked in coordination with Orabi on studying the sectors to be targeted by the conference. He said they agreed to invite Egypt’s ministers of international cooperation and investment who could convey the government’s eagerness to resolve investment disputes, and its success in resolving 259 disputes out of 365 that were worth of billions of pounds.
