Euromoney: a message of stability, confidence from officials, private sector players

There’s no mistaking the message officials and private sector players were pushing at the opening of this year’s Euromoney Egypt Conference, whose titular theme is already a dead giveaway: stability, investment and growth.

Amid its massive drive to restore investor confidence and revitalize the inflow of capital needed to fund the major infrastructure projects planned to fuel a direly needed economic recovery, the main economy ministers spoke to a significantly larger gathering of attendees at this year’s installment of Euromoney.

As Richard Banks, director of emerging markets at Euromoney Conferences said that the number of attendance is back up to 2008 levels, and in many ways, much of the official talk reflected an ambition to bring economic figures back up to the time when Egypt witnessed its highest growth rates and most robust indicators.

“This is the most confident I’ve ever been that Egypt can create the society and economy its people so richly deserve,” Banks said, adding that the new governing leadership needs support to implement its broad reforms and restructuring plans.

On part of the major stakeholders and business personalities, the support could not be more resounding, with most applauding government efforts to undertake some of the reforms previously labeled as tough and long unaddressed.

It was perhaps most directly addressed by Finance Minister Hany Qadry, who repeated “We have the political will” four times before continuing, “for serious and real change.”

Qadry opened the day by declaring that this a message of confidence to investors, telling them that they can still “grow and achieve unmatched profit margins building on local and regional opportunities” by betting on Egypt.