But so far that hasn’t seemed to sour foreigners on Egypt’s investment offerings.
By Ahmed Fouad
CAIRO — Egypt has so far managed to keep its economic interests away from its foreign political disputes. Mostly.
The head of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, Rifat Hisarcıklıoglu, visited Cairo March 5 for Egypt’s fourth Investment Forum under the slogan “Together for Africa.” The forum presents investment opportunities in Africa, including Egypt. On the same day, the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture announced it was ready to import 13,000 tons of Egyptian onions for private traders and government outlets in Turkey.
Cairo’s relations with Qatar and Turkey have been marred by tension for years. The Egyptian army overthrew Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohammed Morsi in 2013 and labels the group a terrorist organization. Yet Turkey and Qatar consider the Brotherhood peaceful and claim the 2013 revolution was a military coup. Turkey and Qatar are hosting Egyptian members of the Muslim Brotherhood wanted in Cairo on terrorism charges.
On June 5, 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain severed ties with Qatar. The four nations accused Qatar of maintaining ties with Iran and supporting extremists and terrorist groups. Qatar denied all accusations. To this date, the four nations maintain a trade boycott against Qatar. Turkey has been one of its few real allies.
This year, an Egyptian nongovernmental organization (NGO) launched a global campaign called “Martyr’s Right” to prosecute Qatar and Turkey for allegedly supporting and financing terrorist groups since 2011. That NGO, United National Organization for Human Rights headed by Mohamed Abdel Naeem, filed a complaint Feb. 24 to Egyptian Attorney General Nabil Sadeq. It demanded that Egypt freeze Qatari and Turkish assets, whether the assets are owned directly by the two countries or by any Qatari and Turkish national. The complaint also called for using these assets to pay fair compensation to Egyptian victims of terrorist operations.
However, Mahmoud Kbeish, former dean of the law school at Cairo University, told Al-Monitor, “No person or entity may be charged or punished on the basis of its nationality. This is tantamount to discrimination. It is only permissible to seize the foreign or national funds and assets aimed to support terrorism or arising from terrorist crimes based on the investigation of each terrorist crime and not on the nationality of investors.”
He argued that even if the NGO is entitled to compensation from the Turkish and Qatari governments, it must claim such compensation through international courts, not by freezing investments of Qatar or Turkey. Kbeish explained, “A state property is owned by the people of this state. It is only managed by its government and not owned by it.”
A source at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity. “All Turkish investments in Egypt are owned by individuals and not by the Turkish state. Qatari investments are distributed into parts — one part owned by Qatari nationals and another owned by Qatari national investment funds,” the source said.
Mustafa Atwa, an economics professor at Mansoura University, told Al-Monitor, “Commercial and economic matters should be separated from political conflicts between countries. The legal proceedings calling for the confiscation of Qatari and Turkish assets harm Egypt’s image and the future of investing in it. Any investor would fear to invest in Egypt because he could see his assets confiscated within the scope of a political dispute with his state of nationality.”
Atwa believes Sadeq will probably dismiss the complaint for lacking logic and reasonableness. “Such complaints are a naive tool used by some human rights organizations to push Turkish and Qatari investors to pressure their governments to stop criticizing Egyptian policies,” he said, adding, “These complaints, although lacking seriousness, give an impression that the investment climate in Egypt is unsafe. Regional and international newspapers noted that several Qatari companies have been recently harassed and decided to freeze their activities in Egypt.”
Ahmed Fouad is an Egyptian journalist working as newsroom assistant manager for Al-Shorouk.