Egypt needs to improve rule of law, freedoms to attract investors – Germany

Reuters

Egypt needs to strengthen its rule of law and allow greater religious freedom if it wants to attract more foreign investment, its top trading partner Germany said on Monday. Egypt’s improved security after years of turmoil and an Islamist militancy has helped revive German tourism, German Economy Minister Brigitte Zypries told a joint news conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Berlin.

“Security alone does not promote a vibrant and flourishing society,” Zypries said. “We believe that stability and growth must be connected with an open society, with open dialogue, with the rule of law and religious pluralism.” Political instability and widespread violence in the years after the toppling of former president Hosni Mubarak in 2011 left Egypt’s economy in tatters.

Under President Sisi, the former head of Egypt’s military, the economy has slowly recovered and security has improved, but the country is still fighting an Islamist insurgency that has previously  targeted major tourist sites, hurting a vital sector. Sisi did not respond to her comments directly but said Egypt was keen to encourage investment from Germany’s automotive parts, engineering and renewable energy sectors.

They were speaking before the fourth annual meeting of the German-Egyptian Joint Economic Commission. Zypries said Germany was keen to work with Egypt on areas such as renewable energy and energy efficiency, and had offered export and investment guarantees to pave the way for more business deals. Annual trade between the two countries is worth 5.5 billion euros and the exports are likely to grow given Europe’s positive economic outlook, Zypries said.

The head of the German Chambers of Commerce and Industry told the commission that German exports to Egypt were up 50 percent in the first quarter from a year ago. Egyptian exports to Germany were up 32 percent, Eric Schweitzer said.

 

Source : Egypt Daily News

 

Egypt receives $125 mln from World Bank for Upper Egypt Development Programme

Al Ahram

Egypt received $125 million from the World Bank allocated to support the Upper Egypt Development Programme, Egypt’s Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr said on Monday. The money is the first tranche of a World Bank fund worth $500 million, according to the ministry’s official website, to be pumped into growing investment and industrial development in the governorates of Sohag and Qena.

The World Bank loan will “focus on the competitive advantage of each of [those governorates] to attract more local and foreign companies to invest,” the ministry statement read. Egypt and the World Bank launched the Upper Egypt Local Development Programme in March.
The $500 million loan is intended to help create jobs in Upper Egypt by enhancing the business climate and improving infrastructure and  the delivery of services, according to a previous statement by the bank. Asad Alem, the regional director of the World Bank in the Middle East and North Africa, said he was pleased to support government efforts to develop areas in need in Egypt.

Alem said the programme would improve competitive advantage in local economic sectors, develop infrastructure and provide services to the citizens of Egypt’s two lowest growth governorates. Sohag and Qena were chosen based on population size, poverty rates, geographic location, and economic potential to achieve equality in the allocation of resources and raise the living standards for residents of those governorates.

The programme aims to raise economic growth rates, create sustainable job opportunities by improving the business environment, and build the infrastructure required for growth in productive sectors and developing industries such as food, Nasr added. The fund also aims to develop industrial fields in the economic zones of Upper Egypt, and expand basic service provision including water, sanitation, roads and gas.

The minister said the programme would also pump investment into job opportunities for youth and women, granting incentives to investors who work in the neediest areas, under a newly approved investment law. Earlier this month, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi ratified a long-awaited investment law that grants investors a number of incentives including tax breaks.
Egypt is also set to receive in December the third and final $1 billion tranche of a $3 billion loan from the World Bank.

In late March, the World Bank announced that it had handed over the second $1 billion tranche to Egypt, with the funds intended to help with fiscal consolidation, ensuring Egypt’s energy supply and enhancing competitiveness in the private sector. Egypt received the first tranche of the loan in September, 2016. According to the bank’s data, the current portfolio of the World Bank in Egypt includes 26 projects for a total commitment of $5.92 billion.

In May, the Central Bank of Egypt said the country’s foreign reserves edged up to $28.641 billion by the end of April, from $28.5 billion at the end of March. Egypt’s foreign reserves have been climbing since it clinched a $12 billion three-year loan from the International Monetary Fund in November, in a bid to lure back capital.

 

Source : Egypt Daily News

Litmus Test For Confederations Cup

Tomorrow’s game against Morocco would be an opportunity to assess the squad and make adjustments ahead of the Russian expedition to begin on June 17, 2017

 

Cameroonians will tomorrow know how well their darling football team, the Indomitable Lions, are prepared for the upcoming FIFA Confederations Cup to run from June 17 to July 2, 2017 in Russian. Their game against the Atlas Lions of Morocco at the Ahmadou Ahidjo Stadium in Yaounde counting for the first day qualifiers for 2019 Africa Cup of Nations will certainly serve as veritable litmus test for the highly competitive Confederations Cup.
Though tomorrow’s match will be of little stakes given that Cameroon’s hosting right for 2019 AFCON automatically qualifies the Indomitable Lions for the 16-nation tourney, playing against Morocco will serve as an opportunity to see who is who in the 23-man squad.
It will be an occasion for the technical bench to evaluate their one-week training in a more serious manner and see where to adjust before heading for Russia. A real take-off point for the team whose camping in Yaounde and later in Equatorial Guinea was far from being serene owing to the haphazard arrivals of the players.
A serious match like that of tomorrow will serve as an occasion for team coach Hugo Broos to hopefully test the flexibility of the squad given that new players have integrated the AFCON 2017 winning team. Players like, André Onana, Franck Zambo Anguissa, Nicolas Ngamaleu, Olivier Boumal and Jonathan Ngwem among who were not in Gabon will need to marry their talents with the playing style of the team for much-needed cohesion to prevail. Tomorrow’s game offers the opportunity in gold to sharpen the consistency before June 17.
Pooled in group B alongside no-nonsense teams like Chile, Australia and Germany, the Indomitable Lions need to stretch limits in their preparations to live up to expectation.  They will enter the competition on June 18 against Chile at the Spartak Stadium in Moscow before challenging Australia on June 22 in the Saint Petersburg Stadium and Germany on June 25 at the Fisht Stadium in Sochi. Tough opponents requiring a solid Indomitable Lions squad.
Morocco’s Atlas Lions with their fast and energetic playing style, typical of all northern African teams, certainly present themselves as good opponents through which the Indomitable Lions can sharpen their winning claws for the Russian expedition. Winning the game may not be imperative looking at the stakes of the match but defeat wouldn’t be welcomed as well especially at home and after haven revived the fan’s appetite with the fifth AFCON trophy. A convincing victory will at least be a better way to bid farewell to the numerous fans and arguably rekindle the taste for good football like what the population lived in 2003 when the squad lost honourably at the final of the then Confederations Cup to host country – France.

 

L’explication

 

Thierry Metomo Ebila: « L’enjeu est plus amical que comptable »

Entraîneur de football

Dans quel état d’esprit les Lions indomptables peuvent-ils aborder la rencontre contre le Maroc qui n’a pas de véritable enjeu?

C’est vrai que nous jouons un match sans enjeu car les rencontres du Cameroun ne comptent pas, mais il faut garder une dynamique de victoire sur le plan continental pour justifier le statut de champion d’Afrique acquis au Gabon. Il y a plusieurs facteurs qui s’imposent lors de ce match : la recherche de l’amélioration de la qualité de jeu, la possibilité de mieux observer les nouveaux et surtout, la préparation de la Coupe des Confédérations en Russie. Donc, il est souhaitable d’aborder ce match avec un esprit de gagne et de réussite.

Dans la perspective de la Coupe des Confédérations, comment le sélectionneur Hugo Broos peut-il tirer avantage de ce match et de celui contre la Colombie, mardi en amical?

Les deux matchs ont pratiquement les mêmes objectifs. Pour le Maroc, le choix de l’adversaire a été imposé par la compétition. Par contre, la Colombie est un adversaire semblable au Chili que nous rencontrerons en coupe des Confédérations. Donc, un choix objectif et bien orienté. Ça fait quatre mois que les joueurs et encadreurs ne sont plus ensemble, ils ont la possibilité de resserrer les liens et le sélectionneur a l’occasion de juger et analyser ses choix (les hommes, le système de jeu …) avant la compétition afin de présenter la meilleure équipe possible. Il est le juge de l’opportunité et doit mettre des stratégies sur pied lors de ses deux matchs. Ce sont de bons matchs de préparation.

Faut-il avoir peur du Maroc, qui vient au Cameroun déterminé à prendre les trois points et à battre le champion d’Afrique?

Peur, je ne pense pas vraiment car le Maroc est certes à la recherche d’une qualification mais l’enjeu de ce match est plus amical que comptable en points. Les Lions ont fait vibrer le peuple loin de la base il y a quelques mois, les fans viendront pour une confirmation du retour des victoires. Donc, difficile de penser que les joueurs viendront rigoler ou se faire peur. N’oublions pas que c’est un combat de Lions (indomptables – Atlas) qui généralement a pour objectif la préservation des acquis et du territoire dans la grande forêt africaine. Le champion d’Afrique devra sortir ses griffes.

 

Cameroon-Tribune

Editions Sopecam: auteur et public en accord parfait

Le Pr James Mouangue Kobila a échangé avec les visiteurs sur son ouvrage : « Exercices corrigés de droit international public », mercredi dernier à Yaoundé

 

Public composite. Au centre, le Pr. James Mouangue Kobila, auteur qui parle de son ouvrage intitulé : « Exercices corrigés de droit international public », paru aux Editions Sopecam en 2016. Loin des amphis de la faculté de droit, l’auteur s’est prêté à l’exercice de questions-réponses sur les raisons de la rédaction de ce manuel dont la cible principale se recrute parmi les étudiants. Par souci pédagogique, le Pr. James Mouangue Kobila a voulu familiariser les étudiants avec cette discipline souvent considérée par eux comme théorique, sans prise sur la réalité. Dans ce livre, des sujets puisés dans l’actualité. « Il ne s’agit pas d’un impressionalisme juridique mais plutôt d’exercices pratiques innovants tirés des situations vécues par les étudiants et le lecteur », explique l’auteur.
L’auteur a fait une incursion dans le terrorisme international qui intéresse les Camerounais. En ce sens que le pays est concerné et douloureusement frappé. Dès lors, se pose la question de savoir comment peut-on, dans ce cas, lutter contre le terrorisme sans limiter les droits de l’Homme ? » La réponse à cette épineuse question se trouve dans les multiples analyses proposées dans le manuel offrant la juste proportion sur la pratique des grands Etats. « Exercices corrigés de droit international public », ce sont aussi des illustrations qui dévoilent également le droit international public dans l’Afrique noire précoloniale. « C’est une manière de rendre justice à l’Afrique», justifie l’auteur. Corrigés de dissertation, cas pratiques, commentaires et extraits d’arrêt y sont entièrement rédigés. Des ingrédients qui permettent de bien cerner le droit international public, avec des références insérées dans les textes. Vendu généralement à 14 000 F, le livre était disponible à 11 200 F. Une remise de 20 % offerte à l’occasion des « Journées des Editions Sopecam » qui s’achèvent ce jour.

 

Cameroon-Tribune

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