● Prospects for economic cooperation between Egypt and Austria and strengthening joint relations between the private sectors of the two countries.

● Egypt is a gateway for Austrian companies to reach more than 1.5 billion people in Africa.

The Minister of International Cooperation H.E. Dr. Rania A. Al-Mashat, participated as a keynote speaker at the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber conference within the framework of the "Austrian Export Day 2023" activities, with the participation of thousands of private sector companies, in Vienna. This was in the presence of the President of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber Harald Mahrer, the Minister of Economy and Labor of Austria Martin Kocher, the Minister of Transport of the State of Singapore, and representatives of Austrian institutions and the private sector.

At the beginning of her speech, Al-Mashat applauded the strong bilateral economic cooperation between Egypt and Austria, especially after the signing of the letter of intent between the two sides in April 2023, aiming to expand and strengthen relations in the fields of economic, trade and technical cooperation within the framework of the Joint Committee for Economic Cooperation.

Al-Mashat affirmed that Egypt is a gateway to Africa given its strategic location, and the efforts made by the country to transform into a logistical and commercial center in the African continent and the Middle East and North Africa region. Moreover, the free trade agreements signed with Egypt provide a great opportunity to reach more than 1.5 billion consumers in the continent of Africa. H.E. added that due to the recent economic reforms adopted by the political leadership in Egypt, the Egyptian economy was able to maintain stable growth rates and show resilience towards the multiple challenges it faced recently, particularly COVID-19 and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Al-Mashat added that the government is moving forward in taking many steps that create favorable conditions to stimulate economic growth and create sustainable job opportunities in many priority sectors, encourage foreign direct investment, issue a state ownership policy document that defines a future vision for empowering the private sector, and start issuing the golden license for companies -especially those that contribute to promoting development efforts- which opens more opportunities for the foreign and local private sector.

H.E. called on Austrian companies to explore investment opportunities in Egypt, especially in implementing projects announced by the government, including the Suez Canal Economic Zone, the  Golden Triangle Economic Zone (GTEZ), the New Administrative Capital, and new cities.

H.E. reviewed the national efforts to enhance Egypt’s position as a regional and global logistics center, and the recent inauguration of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of the multi-purpose Tahya Misr station in Alexandria port, to be the first station of its kind to be operated in Egyptian ports that supports transit trade. This reflects Egypt as a center of trade and logistics, which is part of the country's ambitious vision to expand the development of ports and enhance Egypt's position as a vital logistics hub.

Moreover, Al-Mashat referred to the Nexus for Water, Food and Energy platform, the NWFE program, which aims to attract green investments, concessional development financing and debt exchange, through cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development partners.

Al-Mashat concluded her speech by emphasizing the great opportunities available for cooperation between Egypt and Austria, and the need to make efforts to encourage cooperation between the private sector from both sides in various fields.