CAIRO (AP) – Egypt has been pumping up the hype for months for its international conference opening Friday, aimed at drawing investors from around the world. Television channels show a countdown clock to the start alongside heroic footage of factories and captains of industry. Ads for the gathering are blasted to passengers on incoming flights of the national airline EgyptAir.
President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has staked his legitimacy on fixing Egypt’s broken economy, and it cannot be done without massive new investment. The conference is his government’s centerpiece for showing that Egypt is ready for the world’s business after four years of turmoil, starting with the 2011 uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak, followed by constant unrest and capped in 2013 by the military’s ouster – led by then-army chief el-Sissi – of an elected but divisive Islamist president.
The question is whether the show can be translated into reality. The answer will be a measure of international confidence not only in Egypt’s economic potential but its political stability, given a persistent Islamic militant insurgency and the government’s fierce crackdown on Islamist opponents, which has killed hundreds, landed tens of thousands in prison and brought heavy criticism.
Though the government will likely proclaim some major new contracts during the conference, the deciding factor will be whether the event plants the seeds for more investment down the road.
“It’s difficult to say how much new money we might see coming out of it,” said Simon Kitchen, a strategist at Egyptian bank EFG-Hermes. “While the conference has a timetable for investment, often deal-making doesn’t work that way.”