Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb reaffirmed the strong ties with the Gulf in his closing remarks at the Egypt Economic Development Conference on 15 March in Sharm El-Sheikh.

He thanked Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the UAE for their support following pledges of $4bn each made on 13 March.  Oman also pledged $500m to Egypt.

He particularly expressed gratitude to the now-deceased King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who first proposed the idea of the Egypt hosting an economic summit to help encourage foreign investment into the country.

International support

Other countries mentioned included Italy, Spain, France, Russia and the US. “[They have] realised their security related to Egypt’s security,” he said.

Leaders from across the Middle East, Africa and Europe gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh over the weekend, with many pledging political and economic summit to Egypt.

Absentees

Some countries were notably not represented including Qatar, Iraq and Turkey.

There were a number of UK companies present at the event but no UK government representative addressed the conference on the opening day.

Egypt has suffered from a number of years of political and social instability since the 2011 revolution when ex-president Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power.

The security situation in the country remains tense with a number of bombs exploding in Cairo in recent weeks.

Mehleb condemned terrorism in his closing remarks, praising the efforts of both the army and police to ‘eradicate” terrorism.

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