AmCham INC. annual report

Annual Report INC_Layout 1 5/25/16 3:01 PM Page 1

1 • AmCham Egypt Inc.

AmCham Egypt Inc. is the permanent representative in theUnited States of the American Chamber of Commerce in

Egypt. It is governed by AmCham Egypt's board of governorsand supported by the 1,980 companies and executives whomake up AmCham Egypt’s membership.

AmCham Egypt Inc.’s Objectives• Promoting the development of commerce and investmentbetween the United States and Egypt• Acting as a direct liaison with the U.S. Chamber of Commerceand other chambers of commerce and business organizations• Expressing the views of the business community in Egypt topublic and private interests in the United States• Working with individuals and organizations in Egypt and theUnited States to further bilateral economic ties

AmCham Egypt Inc.’s Activities• Outreach and engagement with stakeholders in theUnited States

• Coordinating the AmCham Egypt Annual Doorknock Mis-sions and follow-ups

• Working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to coordi-nate Business Missions to Egypt

• Advocating for policy matters vital to the promotion ofthe bilateral relationship

• Representing AmCham Egypt on panels hosted by keyWashington-based think tanks that address the commercialaspect of the bilateral relationship

• Building the awareness of AmCham Egypt members onkey policy issues affecting the bilateral relationship

CEOLetter

AboutAmCham Inc.

It has been a pleasure to accept the role of CEO of Am-Cham Egypt Inc., representing the interests of the busi-ness community as exemplified by the AmCham Egypt

membership and promoting the strategic bilateral relation-ship between Egypt and the United States.

Although the activities of AmCham Egypt Inc. are a con-tinuation of what AmCham Egypt has been doing for manyyears, it highlights the increased need for a permanent pres-ence and continuous follow-up on all issues that affect theEgypt-U.S. business relationship. In spite of the fact thatAmCham Egypt Inc. has been in operation for a couple ofmonths, it has become evident that this on-the-ground di-alogue with U.S. stakeholders is very important. Indeed, ahealthy U.S.-Egypt relationship is the cornerstone for thestability of the entire region.

The coordination between AmCham Egypt Inc. and the

U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C., hasproven to be essential for channeling the private sector’sperspective to decision makers on both sides of the Atlanticas well as in bringing opportunities to the attention of busi-ness leaders in both countries. Communication is also tak-ing place regularly with the active Egyptian embassy andcommercial service offices in Washington, D.C. The con-tinuous face-to-face meetings with stakeholders, includingthe U.S. government, Congress and think tanks is provingto be invaluable to our accumulated experiences.

Finally, I would like to express the fact that it is gratifyingto operate in the United States given the solid backing,leverage and reputation that AmCham Egypt and its 1,980members have long enjoyed, in addition to the wonderfulsupport and resources of AmCham Egypt that are at the dis-posal of AmCham Egypt Inc.

Dear AmCham Members,


Board of Governors • 2

AmCham Egypt Inc. Report

Board of Governors

Member of the BoardNevine Loutfy

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank - Egypt

Executive Vice PresidentAhmed Abou Ali

Hassouna and Abou Ali Law Offices

Vice President, ProgramsTarek Tawfik

International Company for AgriculturalProduction & Processing

Vice President, Legal AffairsSaid Hanafi

Orascom Hotels & Development

Member of the BoardAladdin El-Afifi

ASEC Company for Mining (ASCOM)

Member of the BoardOmar A. Mohanna

Suez Cement Group of Companies

Executive Vice PresidentCurt Ferguson

Coca-Cola Egypt – Atlantic Industries

Member of the BoardHashem El Dandarawy

Team 4 Security

Member of the BoardThomas Maher

Apache Egypt Companies

TreasurerSherif El Kilany

Allied Accounting & Auditing – Ernst & Young

Past PresidentM. Gamal Moharam

MGM Financial & Banking Consultants

Vice President, MembershipAmr Allam

Misr Sons Development – Hassan Allam Sons

PresidentAnis A. Aclimandos

Transcentury Associates


4 • Activities

Activities

On February 15, AmCham Egypt Inc. hosted its first event inWashington, D.C.: a roundtable lunch with Egypt’s Ministerof Immigration and Expatriate Affairs Nabila Makram.

Attending the event were Ayman Dessouky, consul generalof Egypt’s Embassy in Washington, D.C.; senior officials fromEgypt’s Ministry of Investment and Ministry of Housing, inaddition to a number of senior officials from the World Bankand private-sector representatives residing in the D.C. area.

During the luncheon, Makram discussed the role of the min-istry in engaging with Egyptians living in the United States, aswell as the support extended to Egyptians working abroad. Shealso discussed the proposed a new immigration law that willtie up all the loose ends related to the work of the ministry.Discussions touched upon several issues including some ob-stacles facing the Egyptians living in the U.S. and difficultiesin issuing legal documents related to military service, espe-cially for second and third generation Egyptians.

Attendees praised the effective role that Egypt’s Embassyin Washington, D.C., plays in communicating with Egyp-tians and agreed on the need for a wider communicationeffort and awareness building about issues of bilateralstrategic importance.

A number of recommendations came out of the discussionincluding the need to develop a comprehensive database fa-

cilitating communication with all Egyptian expatriates. It was also mentioned during the meeting that the New

York branch of the National Bank of Egypt holds an accountfor the Tahya Masr initiative, where Americans may maketax deductible donations.

Hundreds of Egyptians in the United States enjoy suc-cessful careers, including 58 currently working at theWorld Bank and 51 at the International Monetary Fund, aswell as the many well-established professionals in differentfields willing to lend their support to Egypt through servingon advisory boards or through other means. Uniting effortsand creating the right channels of communication betweendifferent stakeholders who can work toward supportingEgypt is essential.

FEBRUARY 15, 2016

AmCham Egypt Inc. hosts a roundtable lunch withEgypt’s Minister of Immigration and ExpatriateAffairs Nabila Makram

MARCH 18, 2016

AmCham Inc. hosted a special roundtable on March 18 inWashington, D.C., featuring women parliamentarians DaliaYoussef and Marianne Azer. Discussions focused on the com-position of the new parliament, its role in supporting Egypt’s

economic reform program, as well as key legislations that arelikely to be presented during the coming period. The round-table was attended by a number of prominent members of theexpatriate community in Washington D.C.

AmCham Inc. hosts Egyptian parliamentarians Dalia Youssef and Marianne Azer for a special roundtable

Guests at the roundtable with Nabila Makram

Guests at the parliamentarians’ roundtable


Activities • 5


Dr. Ahmed Darwish, chairman of the Suez Canal EconomicZone (SCZone), briefed attendees on the massive developmentproject to create a state-of-the-art special economic zone inthe heart of the Gulf of Suez. The SCZone will become a com-petitive business location that provides Egyptian and foreigninvestors with top-class infrastructure, market access andstreamlined administrative procedures.

Darwish explained that the SCZONE is completely inde-pendent of the government decision-making process to ensureexpedited decision making. The zone will have its own indus-trial registry, which will be shared with the rest of the govern-ment. The only exemptions to this blanket authority willpertain to matters concerning national security, defense, for-eign affairs and justice.

The zone will focus on industries in which Egypt has a com-petitive edge. The master plan includes projects related to lo-gistics, ports, maritime-related services, manufacturing zones,

ICT parks and energy investments as well as a new city closeto Port Said governorate. “These projects will start in two tothree years’ time, after the digging of the tunnels and exten-sions to the canal end,” said Darwish.

Before concluding his speech, Darwish outlined all four re-gional strategies and investment opportunities in Ain Sokhna,East Port Said, West Qantara and Technology valley.

APRIL 13, 2016

The U.S.-Egypt Business Council and AmChamEgypt Inc. host Dr. Ahmed Darwish, chairman ofthe Suez Canal Economic Zone

AmCham Egypt Inc., in partnership with AmCham Egypt, coordi-nated the activities of the Annual Doorknock Mission to Washing-ton, D.C., which took place during the week of April 17-22.

Conveying key economic advancements and the overallbusiness climate in Egypt to different stakeholders was the pri-mary goal of this year’s mission.

This year’s 36-member delegation aspired to make the casethat Egypt is continuing its economic reforms despite manychallenges that still exist and clear up some misconceptionsregarding Egypt’s transition. They called for ways to furtherstrengthen the bilateral relationship during the remainder of2016 and “re-boot” the relationship as the new administrationcomes into office next year.

Over the course of five days, delegates took part in 93 meet-ings with members of the U.S. Congress, Administration offi-cials, think tanks, media and leaders from the U.S. businesscommunity. Among them were 57 meetings with members ofCongress (House and Senate), nine meetings with the Execu-tive branch, including meetings with senior officials at the De-partment of State, Department of Commerce, Department ofthe Treasury, Department of Agriculture, National SecurityCouncil, Office of the United States Trade Representative,Agency for International Development, the Egyptian American

Enterprise fund and the Export-Import Bank of the U.S.The delegation also met with senior representatives at many of

Washington D.C.’s prominent think tanks and multinational finan-cial institutions including the World Bank, the International Mon-etary Fund, International Finance Corporation, Woodrow WilsonCenter, Albright-Stone Bridge Group, Carnegie Endowment for In-ternational Peace, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, At-lantic Council, Center for American Progress, Council on ForeignRelations, National Foreign Trade Council, Freedom House andthe Center for New American Security.

APRIL 17-22, 2016

AmCham Egypt Doorknock Mission

From left to right: Abdel Kader Darwish, Steve Lutes,Ahmed Darwish, Hisham Fahmy, Carin Rising

From left to right: Ziad Hader, Amb. Anne Patterson and Amb. David Thorne meet with Doorknock delegates at the U.S. State Department.


6 • Activities

Activities

On May 6, AmCham Egypt Inc. jointly with the U.S.-Egypt Busi-ness Council hosted Egypt’s Minister of Supply and Internal TradeKhaled Hanafy, in the attendance of Egypt’s Minister of PlanningAshraf El Araby.

The event was attended by Yasser Reda, Egypt’s Ambassador tothe United States; Dan Glickman, former secretary of agriculture;General Jim Jones, former National Security Advisor; and NormColeman, former senator from Minnesota, in addition to seniorrepresentatives from more than 40 U.S. companies.

Hanafy highlighted some of the ongoing challenges Egypt is cur-rently facing then went on to share some of the opportunities thatare available given Egypt’s growing population and huge marketpotential. He iterated the importance of the Suez Canal develop-ment zone as an attractive logistical and industrial center.

Hanafy shed light on a number of projects being carriedout by U.S. companies including Visa and Microsoft, andspecifically Blumberg Grain's command and control center,which is the central nervous system of a fast-expanding net-work of grain storage facilities that will save Egypt nearly$2 billion in five years. Hanafy also commended Coca-Cola

and PepsiCo on their commitments to Egypt.The supply minister then spoke about the new bread subsidy

system and how it alleviated the pressure on the governmentbudget, allowing other commodities to reach its targeted recipientswhile saving money for other social support programs. Hanafy alsohighlighted the importance of the new logistics center at Damiettaport as a hub for local and international commodity exchange.

The event was followed by a special meeting for both Hanafyand El Araby with Tom Donohue, president and CEO of the U.S.Chamber of Commerce.

MAY 6, 2016

AmCham Egypt Inc. and the U.S.-Egypt BusinessCouncil host Egypt’s Minister of Supply andInternal Trade Khaled Hanafy

On April 18, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce hosted a specialbreakfast event featuring Egypt's Minister of Finance Amr El Garhy,who shared the outcomes of his meetings with the InternationalMonetary Fund, including the proposed assistance with the im-plementation of the Value Added Tax. During his speech, El Garhyoutlined some of the reasons behind the recent currency devalu-ation, which include the need to redirect foreign currency towardthe banking system as well as limit what he referred to as “unpro-ductive” importation in order to protect local industries, pointingto the spinning and weaving industry as an example. El Garhywent on to describe some of the financial reform measuresadopted by the government to reduce budget deficit and limit ex-penditures. The minister explained some of the sources of govern-ment revenue and compared this year with previous years, sharingthat in the current fiscal year (FY) 2015/16, budget revenues fromtaxes are expected to amount to EGP 422.4 billion (14.9 percent

of GDP), compared to EGP 364.2 billion in FY 2014/15, a growthrate of approximately 13 percent. On the other hand, revenuesfrom sales taxes in the budget are also expected to increase fromEGP 118.4 billion in FY 2014/15 to EGP 159.8 billion (5.6 percentof GDP) this year. Meanwhile, revenues from general taxes are ex-pected to increase from EGP 207.4 billion last fiscal year to EGP213.5 billion (7.5 percent of GDP) in the current fiscal year.

APRIL 18, 2016

The U.S.-Egypt Business Council and AmChamEgypt Inc. host Egypt’s Minister of Finance AmrEl Garhy, in honor of the AmCham DoorknockDelegation to Washington, D.C.

Amr El Garhy, Egypt’s Minister of Finance, speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

From left to right: Hisham Fahmy, Khaled Hanafy, Thomas Donohue, Ashraf El Araby and Amb. Yasser Reda


Activities • 7


The Egypt4Business Initiative is a strategic communications initiative aimed at strengthening the “Egyptian Brand” in theU.S. as well as around the world, highlighting the potential of this huge market within different sectors. AmCham membersare the cornerstone behind the success of this campaign; by telling their stories to the media, they are the best ambassadorsfor Egypt on the ground.

On the margins of the AmCham Doorknock mission in April, several media interviews were conducted with prominentoutlets including The Wall Street Journal, FDI Magazine, Bloomberg, Huffington Post and Barrons.

Egypt4Business Initiative

Hisham A. Fahmy, CEO of AmCham Egypt Inc., is playing a key role in promoting the U.S.-Egypt business relationship. For over20 years, Fahmy has been advocating for a friendly business environment for U.S. companies operating in Egypt and Egyptiancompanies working with the United States.

On March 31, 2016, Fahmy participated on a panel by King Street Strategies, consultancy firm that works to help com-panies and individuals conduct international business transactions and solve global challenges. He gave a general overviewon Egypt’s business environment and the state of Egypt-U.S. commercial relations.

Recently, Fahmy participated on panels organized by• The Middle East Institute (MEI)• North Eastern University• The Aspen Institute• Partners for a New Beginning (PNB)• The Bilateral U.S.- Arab Chamber of Commerce

Speaking Engagements


Contact AmCham Egypt Inc.

The American Chamber Of Commerce in Egypt Inc.8000 Towers Cresent Drive, Suite 1350, Vienna, VA 22182

Tel: +1 (703) 760-7888Website: www.amcham-egypt.org / www.amchamegyptinc.org


Documents

AmCham INC. annual report