Oman, Egypt Discuss Establishing $100 Mn Investment Fund

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry with the Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said (ONA)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry with the Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said (ONA)
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Oman, Egypt Discuss Establishing $100 Mn Investment Fund

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry with the Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said (ONA)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry with the Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said (ONA)

Oman and Egypt signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) after a meeting held by the joint Business Council in Muscat.

The Egyptian-Omani Business Council concluded its meeting and recommended the two governments discuss the establishment of a $100 million fund to develop the investment exchange.

The Council also called for the completion of the legal aspects of the signed agreements to facilitate and promote trade exchange.

The Oman News Agency (ONA) said that the two countries signed several MoUs in the political, security, economic, commercial, industrial, judicial, developmental, educational, media, labor, and social fields.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with the Omani Deputy Prime Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Fahd bin Mahmoud al-Said, to discuss bilateral relations and take advantage of Egypt's development and economic boom.

Said and Shoukry participated in the meeting of the Omani-Egyptian Business Council at al-Bustan Palace.

Shoukry delivered a message to Sultan Haitham bin Tariq from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

The FM said that the private sector should help push the development in the two countries and support joint economic cooperation backed by both governments.

Shoukry urged the Omani private sector and businessmen to maximize their direct investments in Egypt and benefit from Cairo's giant development and economic projects.

He called for benefiting from the giant economic development projects implemented by the Egyptian state, which provide many and varied opportunities for investment in various fields, especially in light of recent achievements in terms of economic reform and improving the investment environment.

Shoukry hoped the Joint Business Council support government efforts to boost the development engine in both countries.

The Joint Egypt Omani committee issued a statement after its 15th session, noting that the Council stressed the importance of the distinguished historical relations between Oman and Egypt and the solid ties that bind their peoples.

The statement said that the two sides expressed their deep satisfaction with the high level of the relations, stressing the need to boost bilateral cooperation in all fields and open new horizons for collaboration.

The two delegations discussed regional and international issues of common interest and expressed their satisfaction with political coordination at various levels.

Speaking at the meeting, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Redha al-Saleh, said that the chambers of commerce want to take advantage of the opportunities in the two countries through exchanged visits between business delegations.

Saleh pointed out that the trade exchange between Muscat and Cairo reached over $293 million at the end of June 2021, with 744 Egyptian companies investing in Oman in 2020.



Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
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Ukraine Receives First 3 Bln Euro Tranche of G7 Loan from EU

An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
An explosion of a drone after it hit an apartment building is seen in the sky during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine January 10, 2025. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

Ukraine received its first 3 billion euro ($3.09 billion) tranche of the European Union's portion of the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan agreed for Ukraine by the G7 group of countries, its prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Friday.

It was the first tranche of EU loan secured by profits from frozen Russian assets, Shmyhal wrote on the Telegram app.

G7 leaders in October agreed to provide some $50 billion in loans to Ukraine via multiple channels.
"Today, we deliver €3 billion to Ukraine, the 1st payment of the EU part of the G7 loan. Giving Ukraine the financial power to continue fighting for its freedom – and prevail," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media platform X.

In other economic news, Ukraine's steel output rose by 21.6% in 2024 to 7.58 million metric tons, its producers union said late on Thursday, though fighting that is closing in on the country's only coking coal mine threatens to slash volumes this year.

Steel production has already suffered since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, which has led to the destruction of leading steel plants.

Ukraine, formerly a major steel producer and exporter, reported a 70.7% drop in output in 2022 to 6.3 million tons. It fell to 6 million tons in 2023.

The steelmakers' union said in October the potential closure of the Pokrovsk mine, Ukraine's only coking coal mine, could cause steel production to slump to 2-3 million metric tons in 2025.
Advancing Russian forces are less than 2 km (1.24 miles) from the mine, Ukrainian military analyst DeepState said on Friday.
The mine's owner, steelmaker Metinvest BV, said last month it had already halted some operations at the mine and two industry sources said it was operating at 50% capacity.
Producers have said they hope to find coking coal from elsewhere in Ukraine should the mine be seized by Russian troops, but imports would inevitably be needed which would raise costs.