L. Fituni, I. Abramova Resource Potential of Africa and Russia's ...

Lada users in Egypt. In 2010, a new state of the art Lada service
centre is to be inaugurated in Cairo district of Katameya for the
guarantee and post guarantee service of Ladas.
The rapid development of tourism in Egypt and interest of many
Russians in visiting the country make it suitable to establish mixed
tourist companies and joint ventures for the construction of hotels,
motels, holiday guest rooms, tourist centers and entertainment facilities.
It is quite promising to build container terminals, refrigerator
warehouses, water-purifying facilities and granaries. An important
new sphere for Russian investments is the development of modern
kinds of communications, such as cellular telephone networks and
creation of software and internet services. Russia has accumulated a
vast experience in this sphere in the recent five years, and the charge
for these services is below the world level.
The main methods of attracting investments to Egypt are the
schemes called BOT (build-operate-take profit), BOOT (buildoperate-own-take
profit) and BOO (build-operate-own). The credit
and financial conditions offered to foreign participants of investment
projects are quite attractive: 40% – donation, 20% – a soft credit (an
installment plan for 17–20 years, the interest rate in first ten years is
2.5–4%) and 20% – budget financing plus the opportunity to supply
a part of the manufactured equipment to Egyptian plants 28 .
At the same time, the Egyptian investment legislation is characterized
by some shortcomings, which should be taken into account
by Russian investors. They will have to compete with Western and
Arab investors. US, European, Japanese, and rapidly developing
South-East Asian companies are quite active in Egypt.
On the other hand, Russian citizens are traditionally treated favorably
there, since the Egyptians remember the fruitful cooperation
with the Soviet Union and the flow of tourists from Russia is a key
source of currency for the country. To achieve success, Russian entrepreneurs
must attend annual international fairs in Cairo, where
they already have demonstrated their activity. The 32nd International
Fair was held in Cairo on March 9–19, 1999. Russia was represented
there by ZAO Expocentre. The main exhibitors were 15
enterprises: the OAO BKMPO (a metallurgical plant), JV Kalitva
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