Ways to promote economic cooperation between Egypt and Greece were discussed when the Minister of Investment, Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, met with Mr. Christodoulos Cazares, Greece's new Ambassador to Egypt.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Osama Saleh, Chairman of the General Authority for Investment (GAFI), Dr. Khaled Serry Siam, Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), and a number of officials from the Ministry of Investment and GAFI.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Greek official referred to the actions taken by the Greek government to deal with the economic crisis it faced during the last period.

The crisis' negative effects have been overcome to a large extent, and Greek economic growth rates are expected to reach an acceptable level in 2011, he added.

Minister Mohieldin stressed Egypt's interest in keeping an eye on economic activity in Greece, praising the measures taken to deal with the Greek crisis.

Dr. Mohieldin reviewed Greek investments in Egypt, noting that Egypt has about 111 companies with Greek contributions. They are active in industry, services, tourism and construction. More than 56 percent of these contributions have been injected during the last five years, compared to 1970. This reflects positive development in bilateral relations, Dr. Mohieldin said.
 
The two diplomats discussed how to make use of the investment opportunities available in recreational and cultural tourism, through cooperation in establishing joint projects.
 
The Greek Ambassador stressed his country's interest in cooperating with the Ministry of Investment in the 3rd Arab-Greek Economic Forum, to be held next September in Athens.

In this regard, Dr. Mohieldin called for sending a high-level delegation with GAFI to the forum in order to discuss areas of cooperation between Egypt and Greece.