CAIRO: Chief Executive Officer of Al-Kharafi Group and Zain Bader Al-Kharafi said the group is highly interested in the Egyptian market, adding "we inherited the love of Egypt from our father Nasser Al-Kharafi". He said the group is keen on increasing its investments in Egypt and expand its current projects that include investments in the field of constructions in the new administrative capital and other projects in the field of contracting and roads, in addition to being interested in investing in communications and Internet services, besides smart cities.

Kharafi spoke during his meeting with Egypt's Prime Minister Mustafa Madhouli to discuss the opportunities of expanding investments in Egypt, in the presence of Egypt's Communications Minister Amro Talaat. Kharafi said the group's investments in the industrial sector in Egypt are on the increase, as it carried out expansions in the group's plants in Alexandria and other cities, besides its partnership with Japan's Mitsubishi in the Egyptian market.

The Egyptian prime minister appreciated the valuable contributions of Al-Kharafi Group in the Egyptian economy, adding the government in keen on extending all forms of support for serious investments and welcomed the group's desire to invest in the field of communications, Internet and smart cities. He indicated the government's interest in bringing investments in the field of manufacturing electric mass transport vehicles as well as electric cars.

Madhouli pointed to the government's efforts to encourage national industry and increase local components, and replace imported commodities with locally manufactured ones in order to reduce the trade deficit and bring in hard currency, while emphasizing the government's support to all Arab and foreign investments that may contribute to achieving these goals.

Meanwhile, the communications minister spoke about the possibility of cooperating with Al-Kharafi Group in the field of establishing a data center, because it is one of the promising and important fields in Egypt. Kharafi welcomed cooperation in this field, and spoke about the expertise of the group in establishing and managing data centers, and its readiness to establish such centers within a maximum of 18 months.