Adds quotes from Sisi, background on project
DUBAI, Feb 28 (Reuters) – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said on Wednesday that part of the funds announced in the deal his country signed with the United Arab Emirates to develop the Ras al-Hikma real estate project have arrived in the central bank.
Egypt signed a deal on Friday with the UAE to develop a peninsula on its north coast and carry out other projects. The Egyptian prime minister said the deal would bring $35 billion of investments to the indebted country over the next two months.
“I want to thank our brothers in the UAE, led by my brother his Excellency the President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed,” Sisi said while attending a “Differently-Abled” event in New Cairo.
“I want to tell you it is not easy for anyone to deposit $35 billion over two months, there is nothing like that in the world … This is a form of support and standing (with us), clearly”, Sisi said.
Under the deal announced on Friday ADQ, the smallest of Abu Dhabi’s three main sovereign investment funds, said work would begin in early 2025 to build a “next generation city” over 170 square kilometres at Ras El Hekma on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast.
“We are not talking about just two, three or four months in the winter of the summer, we are talking about something that has life all year round, with many activities, some of which will be in Egypt for the first time”, Sisi said, in reference to the project.
Ras El Hekma lies about 200 km (124 miles) west of Alexandria in an area of upscale tourist resorts and white sand beaches.
(Reporting by Nadine Awadallah and Tala Ramadan, Writing by Ahmed Elimam; Editing by Michael Georgy and Aidan Lewis)
((Ahmed.Elimam@thomsonreuters.com;))
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Read More: Egypt’s Sisi: part of Ras al-Hikma deal funds arrived in central bank