american business is very fortunate to have him there. had mr. rifkin will speak to us at 9:45 and introduce the american ambassadors with him. but at this time, i have pleasure to introduce from the floor, our assistant secretary of state of state ann patterson of the near east bureau. she has a crammed schedule during this summit, as you can imagine. but she is kindly dropping by to underscore the importance of north africa to the united states and to encourage fwrart commercial cooperation between us. ann is the senior state official for the neares esast. she's a career ambassador who has served in four countries, most recently egypt. thank you, ann, for being here this morning and for your long service to the country. [ applause ] >> i think she deserves

applause. we are here today to talk about north africa. north africa holds one half of the population of the arab world. last year our exports to north africa totaled $11.5 billion. north africa encompasses much of what draws the world's attention today. many of its countries have recently undergone wrenching political change. some, actual revolution. many wrestle with hide rydrocar one way or the other. how best to produce them while striving to find ways to be less dependent on them. all wrestle with the balance of religion and politics and of religion in politics. all the countries face the youth bulge and how best to train and

educate young people so they can be productive in the 21st century, yet despite or possibly because of these challenges, each country in north africa has recently made a commitment to economic reform and defining ways to attract more investment and trade with foreign partners. there are huge challenges, as i've outlined, but there are also huge opportunities. particularly, as these economic reforms take hold. without question, for our north african partners and for all americans, there are high stakes in seeing these efforts succeed. the national u.s. arab chamber of commerce is honored to sponsor this event today. we are active in promoting trade between the u.s. and north africa and indeed with all the

countries of the arab world. over the span of 50 years we have built strong commercial ties and mutual trust between american and arab business. and we hope you will join us as a member. that's my only plug for the morning. let me also recognize several dignitaries in our audience. i hope they have arrived. rashad balaur, from morocco? is he here? he's supposed to be here, but he will come. the chancellor at the moroccan embassy. the minister potentialary in the office of egypt.

good! thank you. [ applause ] and commercial attache of the republic of tunisia, welcome. [ applause ] i now have the pleasure to introduce our distinguished north african speakers. we are very fortunate to have, as our keynote speaker this morning, his excellency, the egyptian minister of trade and industry. [ applause ] he is not only egypt's senior business minister, he is also a long-standing member of the wof party as was his father. a prominent businessman. he served on the board of cairo and alexandria stock exchanges. he was one of the original

founders of one of the first egyptian companies to take agricultural raw production and process and package it to the highest world standards. no one who visited cairo in those days could fail to be proudly offered a jar of vetri jam. our speakers representing morocco. [ applause ] mr. bodoon is the advocate for small enterprise and integration of the small sector in morocco. he serves within the ministry of trade, investment and digital economy. these are long titles. but in this essence, he's responsible for assuring morocco

is a full player in the high-tech, 21st century economy. fittingly, he's a millennial, i believe the youngest official among the king's appointments. he was educated in paris and was a conch trader on the desk at morgan stanley. he thus brings to his job a practical knowledge of what it takes for morocco to compete in world financial markets and what investors need and expect from morocco as a hub. our next speaker is also the ceo -- is my high school french, is it okay? and on the board of homochrome,

one of the largest diversified groups in the country. she received her mba from the university of dallas. and if you know anything about dallas, you know it's famous for people like ms. shagrun who enjoy a challenge. in morocco, she's a tireless advocate for business, for women in business and for all moroccans to achieve their highest potential. she's a high accepted pilot. she's driven race cars in rallies. and she owns a harley. so you know where ever you're going, she's going to get there ahead of you. [ laughter ] so now let me call to our speakers and call first for the keynote address. [ applause ]

>> good morning, everybody, and thank you very much for inviting me and for giving me this privilege. but before starting, as we are here at the u.s. arab chamber of commerce, i would like to ask you for a moment of silence to acknowledge those who are suffering, those who lost their lives and are losing their lives as we speak in gaza and israel. thank you. as i was saying, it is for me a

privilege to be a speaker at the national u.s. arab chamber of commerce with such a distinguished and select group of ministers, ambassadors, in the presence of leaders business men and business women. it is also for me a great pleasure to be in washington. it's beautiful and vibrant city, the capitol of the worldw>ñ thas hosting today some 50 delegations from african countries participating in the leaders summit. it is an excellent opportunity, also, to meet in this north africa forum, ministers from morocco and ambassadors, u.s. ambassadors and other north

african countries, to listen to experiences of countries of the region, following what has been called the arab spring. to listen to the experience of those who seem to be on the road to fulfilling the aims and aspirations of their people after a couple of difficult and turbulent years, like egypt and tunisia. those who have heard the call for democracy and respect for human rights and have taken measures to avoid the revolutionary wave, like morocco, and unfortunately, those who are still in the midst of the turmoil like libya. let me start, as far as egypt is concerned, let me start with the second wave of the revolution

when egyptians took to the streets to put an end to the rule of the muslim brothers who had failed to fulfill the aims of the people, namely, to build a new egypt, a free, democratic, secular, just and modern state. the new government had to face three huge, huge challenges. a political challenge, to rebuild the democratic institutions of the country. a security challenge to restore law & order and an economic challenge to regain the confidence of financial markets and investors. to face the political challenge, a road map was drawn with a precise schedule and timeline in three stages. the first stage aimed at drafting a constitution, followed by presidential, then

parliamentary elections. the chief justice of the supreme court was sworn in as temporary president of the republic until a new president was elected. the constitution drafted by committee of 50 representing all sectors of egypt's political, social and religious spectrum was passed by a vast majority and referendum on the 14th and 15th of january, 2014. the big support that the constitution, that the constitution had was expected. because the constitution responds to a great extent to the aspirations of the egyptian people, guaranteeing women and minorities rights and providing for the separation of powers for

an independent court system, for the rule of law, for a democratic government where social justice prevails and political checks and balances are maintained. presidential elections took place between the 26th and the 28th of may. ha defa assisi was elected. elections are to take place before the end of this year leading eventually to the modernization of the political life in egypt. as for the security challenge, the new government had to face the threats of muslim brothers to chose to resort to terrorism,

to kill innocent civilians, burn churches and monasteries, bomb headquarters and police precincts, attack army officers and soldiers in sinai and in the western desert. destroy infrastructure, especially electricity distribution networks, railway and metro stations. this challenge is in my mind the most difficult one to deal with. because its confrontation very often calls for criticism. sometimes the government appears to be too lenient and is accused of being too lenient, because it suspects due process, and the due process is usually slow. but more often, the government

overreacts, commits mistakes and is criticized for lack of respect for human rights. the boundaries between respects of basic rights on one hand and maintaining the security on the other is a delicate one, especially when you have to deal with terrorist threats. but the egyptians today realize that they need this stage, a strong hand to pull the country together and bring about required stability, allowing for the return to normal economic and political life and the resumption of investments and tourism. the third challenge is economic one. the financial year ending june 13, 2013 had recorded a budget deficit amounting to 270 billion

egyptian pounds, representing 13.8% of the gdp. it recorded also a growth rate of 2%, while the population, growth rate is 2.5, meaning that the per capita income of the egyptian was declining. it recorded also a deficit of account amounting to $30 billion. in a nutshell, the egyptian economy was and still is suffering from deficits, a budget deficit, a growth deficit and an external deficit. as a result of the accumulated budget deficits, public debt reached 92% of the gdp. the external deficit led to the depletion of the foreign currency reserves that were down

to $11 billion in, on june 13, 2013. down from $36 billion in january 2011. today they stand approximately at $17.3 billion. and the growth deficit led to the increase of the unemployment rate for 13%. industry was in no better shape than the rest of the economy and was facing several problems, including a serious shortage of industrial lands and when available, it lacked infrastructure. a serious energy crunch, constituting a severe constraints on industrial developments and more generally on economic development.

a shortage of available sources of banking finance, to a large extent due to government crowding out. and more importantly, and as a result of all of the above, a serious loss of confidence and trust of investors whether egyptian or foreign. so, in order to jump start the economy, the government adopted an aggressive financial policy and approved a stimulus package allocated to the execution of infrastructure projects, including housing projects, roads, bridges, grain silos, the completion of the third line of the cairo metro, the upgrading of electricity power stations. the land infrastructure in 35 industrial zones. and the upgrading of the

egyptian railway network. thanks to the financial support of friendly arab states, namely, the united arab emirates and saudi arabia, this increase in public spending did not have any implications on the budget deficit, which was, as a matter of fact, brought down during the financial year 2013/2014, ending on june 30, 2014. that was brought down to 12%. down, again, from 13.8%. but all this is obviously not efficient. and to put the egyptian economy on the right track, a plan was designed to reduce the macro economic risks, arising from the fiscal and external

vulnerabilities of the economy. and the plan aimed at, number one, restructuring the budget in order to reduce its deficit, then it aimed at implementing an ambitious program to increase the annual growth rates, and finally, to boost exports of goods and services to reduce the current deficit. the restructuring of the budget required the replacement of most of the spending on inefficient fuel subsidies, with spending on education, health and infrastructure. it also entails fiscal reforms, aiming at increasing public revenues, including the introduction of real estate taxes, of a capital gain tax on stock market transactions and a value-added tax. but most importantly, it will

require taking the necessary measures to entice and give the incentives to the informed sector to get integrated into the former. the government has started to implement the plan last month and has taken the very bold and courageous decision to reduce fuel and electricity subsidy the and to increase spending on basic services, including health, education. let me stop here and remind those of you who have been following the egypt politically and economically, that since 1977, when late president sadat tried to reduce the subsidies, no government since then tried and failed to reduce subsidies.

no government has attempted to touch this very, very delicate subject. when our government has, as i said, taken the very bold and courageous decision, has increased the prices of fuel and electricity substantially, reducing in a first step, the subsidies that are burdening the budget. we also introduced, as i said, several taxes, including a real estate tax and a capital gain tax on transactions on stock market transactions. on the other hand, a very ambitious investment program is being drawn. it includes megaprojects like the one aimed at developing the

suez canal zone, to establish logistics and a commercial hub. another megaproject is what we call the golden of chain project which involves developing the area in the nile valley in upper egypt and an area which is very rich with mineral resources, including phosphates, gold, quartz and many ours with a view to create an industrial center using those resources. third, make a project that is not known and that will be declared tomorrow since president assisi is going to break the ground, is the doubling of the suez canal. a better canal will be digged

starting tomorrow as a matter of fact. improving and reducing the passage time through the suez canal by 50%. other investment projects include the reclamation of approximately 1.75 hectares, the construction of 3,000 kilometers of roads in this financial year. kbd8÷ the development of renewable solar and wind energies, housing projects, electrical power plants, petro chemical projects and others. but the execution of this ambition plan depends to a large extent on our ability to regain the confidence of the financial markets and the trust of investors. to this end, we are currently reviewing laws and declarations

doing business in egypt with a view to create the proper environment to attract investments, facilitate procedures and reduce bureaucracy. also a huge effort is currently being put to improve the egyptian working force and raise the level of available technical skills by providing vocational training and supporting technical education. finally, the economic reform plan aims at reducing the current account deficits by promoting and encouraging exports, building on the free-trade agreements egypt signed with several countries, the arab countries and the framework of the league of nations. the georgia, tunisia and morocco and east african countries in

the agreement, the european union in the context of the partnership agreement and finally, turkey. it should be emphasized, and regardless of those free trade agreements, that egypt enjoys definite competitive advantages in the production of fruits, vegetables, agra industries, textiles, ready-made products, chemicals and petro chemicals among many others and should plan to double the values of its exports within the coming seven years. in addition, egypt plans on bringing back the flow of visitors. let me remind you that back in 2010, close to 15 million tourists had visited egypt, generating revenue of $12

billion in u.s. dollars. it would not be too unreasonable to target, to receive 20 million tourists within five years from now. provided, however, measures are taken to diversify markets. as it was said in the introduction, the challenges are enormous, but so are the opportunities. and we are adamant, we will do whatever is needed in order to put egypt on the fast track of sustainable and inclusive growth, and to regain the confidence of financial markets, respecting our commitments, preserving the rights of investors, abiding by the rule of law, shaping economic incentives to save, to invest,

to innovate, to adopt new technologies. and above all, we would have the honest and the courage to take the correct decision, even if they are difficult and painful. because we have no other alternative but to succeed. thank you. [ applause ] thank you, mr. minister, for a really brilliant speech of where, where egypt is today. i'd like to now call on -- and i brief i have a new title for you as vice minister? is vice chairman? they all those fit for our next speaker from morocco.

your excellency? [ applause ] >> thank you very much. ladies and gentlemen, good morning. it is for me a great pleasure to take part in this business forum organized by the international, u.s. arab chambers of commerce around this very important topic that is north africa. our challenges and opportunities in this particular time of transition. i am delight to provide some insight about business opportunities in our region in general and in my country in general. i would like to seize this opportunity to bridge business communities between this region

and the arab world. ladies and gentlemen, north africa today produces about the third of africa's gdp and is a market of 170 million people. the country, the countries of the region share the same concern regarding issue of development, such as economy growth, unemployment and meeting the social expectations. however, north africa trade represents less than 4% of the total trade. to give you a comparison, in the european union, it's about 60%. and in the commercial area it's about 15%. and this is estimated to between 2 to 3 point of gdp per year.

in a win/win logic, in various sectors to create economies of skills and integrate value change for a more competitive business environment. the ongoing structural change in the global economy, which is marked by a reshaping of global values chain offers significant opportunities, especially in the field of energy, finance, facilitation and information technology and communication. morocco has always expressed its support for an integrated market. more over, his majesty, the king, visits to tunisia last may was a renewed tunl to build strong partnership between the two countries and to highlight the role of maghreb integration.

ladies and gentlemen, morocco has today one of the most diversified economy in the region is, with traditional sectors, such as agribusiness, textile, but also, and this is very important, a new, emerging sectors, such as industrials. the information technology and communication but also outsourcing and finance. despite the international economy crisis, our economy has proved to be resilient with the strong macro economy stability, low inflation and strong growth rate over the past several years. today we can say that we benefit from the confidence of international financial organizations, agencies and

foreign investors. thanks to the implementation, we recorded an annual growth of 5%. this growth momentum was mainly driven by a strong domestic demand and capital with an investment rain with around 35% of our gdp. it's one of the best performance in the region. last year morocco has stepped up to the 77th rank in the world economic for competitive report which make us today the third highest ranked african economy, but also the first one in this region. the kingdom has established an attractive legal framework for

foreign investors by developing a network of international agreements, including 63 protection agreements and 59 agreements avoiding the double taxations. thanks to a wide set of free trades agreements, concludes with the united states, with the european union, with turkey, with egypt, with tunisia and jordan, morocco can offer today to american companies a free duty access to a market of 55 countries and more than a billion customers, which represent about 60% of the total world gdp. ladies and gentlemen, morocco and the united states enjoy a strong partnership and a strategic alliance. historically speaking, morocco was the first nation in the world to recognize the independence of the united

states of america in 1777. the treaty of friendship signed in 1783 between the two countries is still in force. this partnership has been reaffirmed during the visit of his majesty, the king, to washington last november. the morocco free-trade agreem t agreements which entered into force in 2006 eliminated taxes on 95% of trade customer and industrial goods between the two countries. this ft 8 has provided both country with great opportunity of trade and investment. for us, the u.s. is the third largest trading partner of morocco, with more than 7% of its total trade. today we have 300 u.s. company that have established their

presence in morocco and are now benefitting from this great business environment. let me now mention few strategic sectors that have been booming in the past years in morocco. first, we have the moroccan aerospace cluster that is becoming among the most competitive manufacturers based in the world, with more than 100 references companies established in less than ten years and is employing to date in morocco more than 10,000 people. companies such as wing, alcoa, ge, have chosen morocco as a manufacturing platform. bombardier is now building in our casablanca area which is

about $200 billion. we have also identified the automotive industry. it's one of the, as this industry, as one of the growth drivers of our economy. giving its double digit annual growth over the past decade. this sector has developed on both suppliers and manufacturers side, employing more than 55,000 highly qualified workers in morocco. world leading companies are already in morocco, with large production units in dedicated in industrial free zone in tan jeer, not of morocco. the third sector is energy. energy is also a promising sector with amazing business opportunities. morocco currently imports over 95% of its energy needs, and with the demand rising by 7%

each year. in this condititext, morocco ha decided to develop a national, renewable energy plan, under which we would like that 42% of our electricity will be generated with, from renewable energy by 2020. morocco will acquire 2,000 megawatts of solar energy which recognizes an investment, a very important investment of $9 billion. ladies and gentlemen, our country remains committed to openness and continually improving its business environments. with its strategic geographical location and infrastructure, morocco is well suited to serve as an ideal platform for investment in the african

continent. casablanca and tan jeer were listed as the top areas for investment in 2014. furthermore, casablanca finance city is a financial gateway for foreign investors, for multi-national companies and professional services providers being looking to access tob(ác+ whole african continent. morocco is also the second investor in africa. with banks, insurance that are present in more than 22 countries through the continent, more over, casablanca has the largest airport in north africa providing direct flight to more than 30 african city and 37 european destinations. we are also one of the world top 20 maritime competitive

entities, including the largest harbors in the mediterranean sea. it takes today, less than nine days to ship a container from tan jeer to the united states of america. africa remains for us a priority, as moroccan companies are heavily investing in the continent. overall, we have 77 moroccan enterprises that are listed in the 2014 edition of the annual list of top 500 african companies. ladies and gentlemen, it is needless to say that if morocco has been able to record continuous growth, it is thanks to its political stability and security. its business friendly environment and also its entrepreneurial spirit. today the region offers to the

u.s. companies significant opportunity for investment, trade, and public/private partnership. the challenge facing both companies and government is to capture the available opportunities and turn them into actual projects for enterprise in a world of fierce competition. before concluding, i would like to say that everyone agrees that the next area of growth is africa. with the highest rate of return on investment in the whole world. it is truly for us the continent of opportunity. and morocco is your perfect logistical area. thanks to its business success throughout the african continent. i would like finally to invite

the u.s. business community to visit morocco and north africa at this crucial time. thank you very much. [ applause ] >> thank you. it was i have informative. now i'd like to call on our next moroccan speaker. [ applause ] >> good morning, everyone. i'm very, i'm very honored to be among you all. and to be invited to speak in

this event that is organized with the, by the u.s./arab chamber of commerce. morocco is africa, is an arab country, is a mediterranean country, and we've been hearing a lot about what we have been doing for the last decade by our minister, young minister, and very active indeed in morocco in supporting the government and policy. private sector. i have the honor, and to be elected a few months ago as the president of the union maghreb employers from the whole maghreb area. >> congratulations. >> thank you. it's a big job. because the region, our region

is the last integrated, as my colleague said, in the world. and it does cost us about two to three point of gdp even though we have many free-trade agreements and we have his excellency mr. minister you talked about and many other agreements, but i think we should go about that, and be, as a private sector, more proactive. and we are, we are programming on having common standards, short list common interest to make it easier for our government to have this economic integration. we speak french in tunisia, morocco, algeria and mauritania, they speak in libya, i mean

arabic, but the second language more english. sometimes it's a little bit hard. but nowadays language is not much of a problem but more of a will and entrepreneurialship. our region has a very specific, to africa and to north africa is our young people. and our young people is our capit capital. morocco, we don't have many natural resources, and we definitely have young people that are looking definitely and desperately for jobs. we have an employment trade of 9%. which is not much, but still, but we have a 17% of youth unemployment, which is high. and i will not talk about the

gender today, but it's even higher. i think it's almost 20%. and so what i would like to share with you is the will of our king, mohammed vi and he showed his vision and how to integrate within our regions. we have the mina region but also the african region. his majesty the king visited tunisia weeks ago. united arab emirates, saudia, and always with business community. not only major players in morocco, but also smes, young entrepreneurs and that have, that have interests in those, in those countries.

lately, one back has been included, including the unmaterial -- i don't know how to say that in english, but unmaterial capital, and morocco has been ranked within the region, the highest fast growing country in terms of unmaterial. and our region has this specific, like tunisia for instance, that doesn't have many fossil energy or mauritania, and the unmaterial capital is, let's say it's going to be very important, because it is, it is based on cultural and on new type of innovation, research and

so many other, so many other, so many other, let's say, component of our economy that cannot be measured in terms of gdp but that do have a lot, the community, the economic community, such as we were talking about research. morocco hasn't been known as being a country of innovation. but nowadays, we have many incubators, many cluster, and we have regional cluster in some specific, in some specific topics, such as renewable energy. we have an american company that has an office in tunisia and that works within processing software in morocco. i mean, it does give us some, some new, new point of view of what is, what is the, what is

the economy in terms of new businesses. and i would like also to, to share with you that within the union of entrepreneurs we invited our governance to provide how a common, a common commercial environment and space very specific no, would not, we would not be talking about politics or any, any other ties except economic ties. and a better connectivity. and we would be delivering our copy in september. and we will be very pushy on

making sure that we have this, this economics pace that is not very complicated in terms of taxation and it's a lot non-budget. so it's easier for our government when we talk about non-budget measures. what we would like, i would like to say else is that morocco is also a strong player in integrating south south. and the u.s./arab chamber of chers how they a few months ago at an event where we were part of that, and it was like a revealing this momentum of today, this u.s. african summit. and i think there is great opportunities to see north africa as a get away to a south

south or to a sub-saharan and west sa haharan get away. and we presented some specific opportunities with american companies that are already operating in our region, and i would like to operate deeper in the continent. i will not take any longer your attention. and if there is any question, i'll be happy to answer. thank you. [ applause ] >> i think you can see why she is the head of morocco's business organization. i just want to quote from something that i found, i think, online somewhere, and interview

she gave. and this will really resonate with the american business audience. she say at one point, what we're saying to the government is, let us be competitive. we want flat, clear, sustainable conditions and a clear vision. we can be competitive if we have predictable conditions. where have we heard that before. thank you, miriam. i just have a couple of questions to kick this off. we don't have a lot of time. we have about ten minutes. i would like to ask, morocco is the main recipient of foreign direct investment in northern africa. in all of africa it ranks second only to south africa. $3.5 billion was invested in morocco approximately in last year alone. and gdp, i think you said this, is at a respectable 4 plus

percent. higher than the united states i might add. with weaker demand from the eu, do you see an increase in investment growth this year? and in what sectors? you had noted the airplane and, you know, related industries, which is very, very impress i've chiefment in mo -- impressive achievements. where do you think the success will come this year? >> i think there is three main reasons for success. the main one is the vision.

we dream one day to become a player in the world, which wasn't easy to market couple of years ago. >> right. >> but that was a political and strategic decision that was made by the government about ten years ago. today we have no more, we, i mean, we, it's not necessary to market it. we proved it. the secondb÷÷÷ñ reason is that based our industry on two main factors that we have. the first one is stability and division. these kind of investors need to see where we are going and what our decisions. so it was clear and a firm decision that we want to be an aeronautical player, and this is important for this kind of investment because it's heavy

development. the second one is that we have a very strong, young human capital. and when you got a strong human, young capital, you can prepare it to the future. to your future needs. so that was easy to, that was easy to have a high level workers in this field, which is not, which is not, i mean, you cannot found it in all the other countries. the other one, the other factor is that we have free trade agreements with a lot of countries. and we are at the door of africa, but also at the door of europe. and that made us as an interesting, an interesting

position that we can, that we can use. and the thing is that also we did not decide just to bring the major player, because we want to integrate the whole sector. so you need the big companies, but you also need the smes that can support their development. so we decided, also, to promote this kind of enterprises to prove and to bring, to prove to the world that we are definitely aeronautical players in the economy. >> something to add to that? >> yes. the fundamental thing is that there was a strong partnership between the administration, the government and the private sector, because you do not declare a country being competitive if you don't have a

strong ties with and a common vision on the sectors you want to be supportive of. and high training program, standards and norms have been put in place. and all this dynamic value chain has been, has been very proactive from governmental side, but also from private sector. grade jvs. we've majored, such as saffron, or, and integrating in terms of jv, which means that even if the country has a lot of smes, the reason added value to share this experience in terms of a shared added value in the whole value chain. i thank you. >> minister, you gave us a

brilliant tour of egypt today, the economy, where it is now, what has happened to it in the last year. i'm sure we would have questions for you that would go on for an hour. but one question that i, not terribly strategic, but my interest is, in private sector participation as egypt goes forward with some of the projects that you outlined. the egyptian military has become the preferred general contractor for the government and the do donors for big projects, such at massive housing project. you ticked off several large projects that will hopefully get financed. is this use of the military as the general contractor, is that

a permanent measure? and are there plans to bring in local and foreign contractors to do these projects? >> thank you for the question. i'm afraid it is a wrong perception. it is not because a big contract, which is the one you're referring to, which is the uae-financed housing project that, where the military have been chosen as the general contractor that it is a general rule. let me give you several examples. the cairo metro project is the third line is currently being executed by french consortium of contractors. the fifth, the fourth line will,

the contract has been signed with the japanese contract. and the door is wide open for private sector contractors, whether egyptian or foreign. i don't see why you're emphasizing the role of the military contractors and do not emphasize the role of a company called the arab contractors that is by far the biggest egyptian contractor that is operating in egypt, but is also operating in most of the african countries very successfully. they have been extremely reliable at finishing at the proper time and without cost

overruns. but this is by no means the briefed contractor in egypt.