The Egypt Economic Development Conference (EEDC) was a three-day event that took place in the Egyptian

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

resort of Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. On March 13, 2015, over 2,000 delegates from 112 different countries arrived in Egypt to attend the conference. On the first day, a proposal for a new Egyptian capital city was announced.

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

and

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

pledged $4 billion each; whilst

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

announced it would provide $500 million.

BG Group BG Group plc was a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. On 8 April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire BG Group for $70 billion, subject to regulatory and ...

and BP both made a commitment to invest $4 billion and $12 billion respectively.

Background

It had been initially suggested by the King

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ( ar, عبدالله بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود ''ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al ʿAzīz Āl Saʿūd'', Najdi Arabic pronunciation: ; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Pri ...

, whose country along with the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf monarchies, have been the largest financial and political backers of Egypt's president

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein Khalil el-Sisi; (born 19 November 1954) is an Egyptian politician and retired military officer who has served as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. Before retiring as a general in the Egyptian mil ...

since he led the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ( ar, جماعة الإخوان المسلمين'' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan ...

-backed president

Mohamed Morsi Mohamed Mohamed Morsi Eissa al-AyyatThe spellings of his first and last names vary. survey of 14 news organizations plus Wikipedia in July 20122011 revolution, has announced austerity measures to lower Egypt's budget deficit. In January 2015, the Egyptian government told an

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

delegation that it aims to achieve a 3.8% growth rate by June, claiming that Egypt's economy grew by 6.8% in the third quarter of the previous year. During the conference, the IMF's chief,

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

, praised the government's 2014

energy subsidy Energy subsidies are measures that keep prices for customers below market levels, or for suppliers above market levels, or reduce costs for customers and suppliers. Energy subsidies may be direct cash transfers to suppliers, customers, or rel ...

reforms and its plans to increase investment in the country, but she noted, citing

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

figures, that it takes over 60 days to register property in Egypt and over 1000 days to enforce a contract. The day prior to the event, Sisi ratified a new set of investment and civil services laws following months of fiscal and legal reforms aiming to regulate and improve investment in Egypt ahead of the conference, a move which Lagarde described as "a very good step in the right direction" during her speech.

Organizers

The conference's organizer,

Richard Attias Richard Attias (born 19 November 1959) is a Moroccan events producer, founder and former chairman of PublicisLive and currently the executive chairman of Richard Attias and Associates. He is also the founder of The New York Forum and the co-foun ...

, expected the unveiling of over thirty projects "which can attract billions of dollars of investment," with more than 2,500 high-level attendees, including heads of state, public figures, chairmen, and CEOs of multinational corporations among others.

The conference

Secretary Kerry Arrives at Convention Hall for Meeting With Egyptian President Al-Sisi

During the first day, the Egyptian minister of environment, Khaled Fahmy, revealed a new

biofuel Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels, such as oil. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (E ...

project in cooperation with the agricultural sector.

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

announced at the conference that it would invest $200 million in a new training and manufacturing facility in the city of

Suez Suez ( ar, السويس '; ) is a seaport city (population of about 750,000 ) in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez (a branch of the Red Sea), near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boun ...

and that it had delivered 34

gas turbines A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directi ...

as part of a project to supply 2.6 gigawatts to its

grid Grid, The Grid, or GRID may refer to: Common usage * Cattle grid or stock grid, a type of obstacle is used to prevent livestock from crossing the road * Grid reference, used to define a location on a map Arts, entertainment, and media * News g ...

by May 2015. U.S. Secretary of State

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician and diplomat who currently serves as the first United States special presidential envoy for climate. A member of the Forbes family and the Democratic Party (Unite ...

attended the conference and delivered a speech of encouragement to Egypt's economy during an

American Chamber of Commerce The United States Chamber of Commerce (USCC) is the largest lobbying group in the United States, representing over three million businesses and organizations. The group was founded in April 1912 out of local chambers of commerce at the urging ...

event. Egypt's irrigation minister, Hossam Moghazy, later discussed with a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

delegation the One Million Feddan land reclamation project, one of the highlights in Sisi's election campaign a year earlier. The

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...

announced it would invest in energy projects, particularly in a

solar power plant A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building- ...

Kom Ombo Kom Ombo (Egyptian Arabic: ; Coptic: ; Ancient Greek: or ; or Latin: and is an agricultural town in Egypt famous for the Temple of Kom Ombo. It was originally an Egyptian city called Nubt, meaning City of Gold (not to be confused with the ...

and a

wind farm A wind farm or wind park, also called a wind power station or wind power plant, is a group of wind turbines in the same location used Wind power, to produce electricity. Wind farms vary in size from a small number of turbines to several hundre ...

in the Gulf of Suez. During the opening ceremony, Sisi gave a speech where he said he hoped to attract billions of dollars by the end of the summit and promised new strategies to support the private sector and investors. He also listed a number of major projects, including the land reclamation project, the

New Suez Canal The Suez Canal Corridor Area Project ( ar, مشروع تطوير محور قناة السويس) is a megaproject in Egypt that was launched on 5 August 2014 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and completed in 2015. The project aimed to increas ...

digging project, the Suez Canal Area Development project and the Golden Triangle project among others. During the second day, several speeches and presentations were held starting with Prime minister

Ibrahim Mahlab Ibrahim Roshdy Mahlab ( ar, إبراهيم رشدى محلب ; born 8 May 1949) is an Egyptian politician who was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1 March 2014 until 19 September 2015. Previously he served as Minister of Housing. Career Ma ...

joined by Hisham Ramez, Governor of

Central Bank of Egypt The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE; ar, البنك المركزي المصري) is the central bank and monetary authority of Arab Republic of Egypt. Currency Since the trading of gold and silver coins in Egypt and until 1834, there was no one ...

, and Ministers of Finance and Planning and Administrative Reform presenting Sisi's administration's vision on how to turn the vision into action showcasing Egypt's economic reform plan. Later Nobel laureate

Ahmed Zewail Ahmed Hassan Zewail ( ar, أحمد حسن زويل, ; February 26, 1946 – August 2, 2016) was an Egyptian-American chemist, known as the "father of femtochemistry". He was awarded the 1999 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on femtochemistry ...

showcased his view on Egypt's technology's future, followed by Minister of Finance of

Ibrahim Abdulaziz Al-Assaf Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Assaf ( ar, إبراهيم بن عبد العزيز بن عبد الله العساف; born 28 January 1949) is a Saudi politician who served as finance minister, foreign minister, and state minister of Saudi ...

providing perspective on Egypt. CNN anchor John Defterios hosted a discussion between leaders from global corporations discussing where Egypt stands in their investment priorities followed by a conversation with Joe Kaeser of

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

. A conversation moderated by

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

anchor Hadley Gamble regarding Egypt's Energy crisis under the title of "Egypt’s Energy Equation", the energy mix in Egypt and how Egypt can best achieve energy security as part of its development plans were discussed. Adnan Nawaz moderated a conversation on the diversification imperative for emerging economies and the demands for a sustainable and long-term growth, between the CEO of

DHL Express DHL is an American founded, German logistics company providing courier, package delivery and express mail service, which is a division of the German logistics firm Deutsche Post. The company group delivers over 1.8 billion parcels per year. DHL ...

, Chairman of

Lazard Lazard Ltd (formerly known as Lazard Frères & Co.) is a financial advisory and asset management firm that engages in investment banking, asset management and other financial services, primarily with institutional clients. It is the world's lar ...

, CEO of

Etisalat Etisalat by e& is an Emirati-based multinational telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscri ...

, CEO of CAD Fund, and CEO of WPP. Five run in parallel sector-level sessions included an overview from ministers, presentation of sector opportunities by local investment banks, and input from private sector participants. The sessions were on oil, gas & mining; housing, utilities & development; ICT; industry & manufacturing; and tourism. A session headed by Naglaa El-Ehwany, Minister of International Cooperation, discussed how can the major international financial institutions improve the effectiveness of their support for Egypt's economic development. Chairman of

Suez Canal Authority Suez Canal Authority (SCA) is an Egyptian state-owned authority which owns, operates and maintains the Suez Canal. It was set up by the Egyptian government to replace the Suez Canal Company in the 1950s which resulted in the Suez Crisis. After th ...

, Mohab Mameesh, ended the day with a presentation titled "Suez Canal Development: Egypt's Gift to the World". The presentation showcased the Suez Canal Area Development Project.

Participants

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry did not invite

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

as the "criteria do not apply to them" due to their investment levels. Turkey's non-participation is also believed to be a result of the country's

strained relations "Strained Relations" is an episode of the BBC sitcom, ''Only Fools and Horses''. It was the second episode of series 4, and was first screened on 28 February 1985. Synopsis It is a sad day for Del Boy and Rodney Trotter, Rodney, as their Grandad ...

with Sisi's government since the

2013 Egyptian coup d'état The 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat took place on 3 July 2013. Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led a coalition to remove the democratically elected President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, from power and suspended the Egyptian constitut ...

High level delegation

President al-Sisi Listens as Secretary Kerry Addresses Audience of Several Thousand Attending Egyptian Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh

Secretary Kerry Addresses Audience of Several Thousand Attending Egyptian Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh

Government representatives

Multilateral organisations

References

External links

*{{Flickr-inline2, photos/paulkagame/sets/72157651323425871, Egypt Economic Development Conference- Sharm El-Sheikh Conferences in Sharm El Sheikh Economy of Egypt Diplomatic conferences in Egypt 21st-century diplomatic conferences