In collaboration with Egyptian General Authority for Investment & Free Zones (GAFI), and the ANIMA Investment Network, a platform for economic cooperation between Europe, the Middle East and Africa, EUDiF is supporting an action to develop GAFI’s capacities to attract Egyptian expatriate investment by equipping its staff with the right tools and knowledge based on regional and international good practices.

Egyptian expatriate investment                                    

GAFI estimates that there are more than 10 million Egyptian citizens abroad and sees a growing role for them in the country’s economic development. Egyptian policymakers have worked to improve the investment climate in recent years, and have included expatriates in Egypt’s national sustainable development plans, creating a favourable environment to attract their interest and investment. Improvements include a new investment law that introduces tax exemptions and investment advantages.

GAFI, in cooperation with the Ministry of Immigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, has recently turned its focus to encouraging Egyptian expatriate investment that ties with national development goals. Accordingly, GAFI seeks to further strengthen its expertise in attracting expatriate investment.

Action objectives

Through the EUDiF’s Capacity Development Lab support, the partners (GAFI, ANIMA and EUDiF) have designed an action that will provide GAFI with regional and international best practices and a communication plan. This initiative has the following objectives: 

• To enhance GAFI’s knowledge of the most relevant best practices for attracting expatriate investment;
  
• To enrich GAFI’s knowledge on the enablers and barriers for attracting expatriate investment through exchanges with regional peers;
  
• To equip GAFI with a tailored roadmap, expatriate investment toolkit and communication plan to attract potential Egyptian expatriate investment; and 
  
• To strengthen GAFI’s ability to promote its service to potential Egyptian expatriates investors in the EU.

Intended impact

EUDiF is supporting GAFI in the short term. However, in building its knowledge, in the long term GAFI will be better positioned to engage expatriates effectively in investment. It will be able to connect the dots between the government’s investment restructuring and this specific investor audience.  

For more details on the action and an overview of the activities, have a look at our step-by-step methodology:

Cover photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash