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

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

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

Kuwait Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

and

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

pledged $4 billion each; whilst

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

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 an ...

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

Background

The EEDC had been initially suggested by the King

Abdullah of Saudi Arabia Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (, ; 1 August 1924 – 23 January 2015) was King of Saudi Arabia, King and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia from 1 August 2005 until his death in 2015. Prior to his accession, he was Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia si ...

, 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 been serving as the sixth and current president of Egypt since 2014. After the 2011 Egyptian revolution and 201 ...

. Abel Fattah Sisi led the

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

Muslim Brotherhood The Society of the Muslim Brothers ('' ''), better known as the Muslim Brotherhood ( ', is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar, Imam and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings s ...

-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 funded by 191 member countries, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is regarded as the global lender of las ...

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, praised the government's 2014 energy subsidy 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 Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

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, 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 (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...

project in cooperation with the agricultural sector.

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...

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

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

and that it had delivered 34

gas turbines A gas turbine or gas turbine engine 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 direction of flow: ...

as part of a project to supply 2.6 gigawatts to its grid 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 served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

attended the conference and delivered a speech of encouragement to Egypt's economy during an American Chamber of Commerce event. Egypt's irrigation minister, Hossam Moghazy, later discussed with a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

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, also known as BAD in French) is a multilateral development finance institution, headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and ...

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 ...

in Kom Ombo and a

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

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 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 joined by Hisham Ramez, Governor of Central Bank of Egypt, 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 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 (; born 28 January 1949) is a Saudi politician who served as finance minister, foreign minister, and state minister of Saudi Arabia. Early life and education Ibrahim was born in the Qassim Province in ...

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 technology conglomerate. It is focused on industrial automation, building automation, rail transport and health technology. Siemens is the largest engineering company in Europe, and holds the positi ...

. A conversation moderated by

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

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, Chairman of Lazard, CEO of Etisalat, 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 ...

, 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 (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

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 with Sisi's government since the

2013 Egyptian coup d'état The 2013 Egyptian coup d'etat or the Counter-revolutionary, Counter-revolution is an event that took place on 3 July 2013. Egyptian army chief General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi led a coalition to remove the democratically elected President of Egypt ...

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