Arroyo gets $1.2B in investments from Egypt

MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s two-day visit to Egypt has yielded at least $1.2 billion worth of investments.

Press Secretary Cerge Remonde, who is with the President’s official delegation, said the investments would come from the company of Sheikh Nasser al-Kharafi for the development of the Clark Airport and Aviation City in Pampanga.

Remonde described al-Kharafi as “one of the biggest financiers in the Middle East.”

The investments from the al-Kharafi and Sons group were the first significant achievement of Ms Arroyo’s whirlwind trip to Egypt and later to Syria.

She and her delegation had a one-on-one meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Presidential Headquarters at the Heliopolis.

Ms Arroyo’s Cairo itinerary included a meeting with representatives of the Filipino community at the Al Kobbah Palace where she stayed during her visit.

She also held a meeting with Dr. Hamza Al Kholi for “possible investments in the Philippines and job opportunities for Filipinos in the Middle East,” according to Malacañang.

Al Kholi was described as a Saudi Arabian businessman of Egyptian origin.

Malacañang said he heads the Al Kholi Group, a “holding company involved in general maintenance services for residential and commercial buildings, hotels, hospitals, factories, roads and playgrounds, real estate investments and development, facilities management and janitorial services, distribution of pharmaceuticals and fertilizers, grass and tree plantation, and catering services.”

Ms Arroyo’s Cairo visit was to last only for seven hours ending with a trip to the Egyptian Museum, “home to the largest collection of ancient Egyptian antiquities.”

The Philippine delegation would then proceed to Damascus where Ms Arroyo would try to lure more businessmen to invest in the Philippines.

An important objective of both the Egyptian and Syrian trips would be to solicit the two countries’ support for the Philippine government’s bid to acquire observer status in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

Ms Arroyo is trying to enlist the support of Islamic countries for the peace effort in Mindanao. –Christian V. Esguerra, Philippine Daily Inquirer