Do UAE investments threaten Egypt's national security?

Abdel Rahman Mohamed-Cairo

The penetration of UAE investments into the Egyptian economy has increased in recent years and has recently penetrated sensitive sectors, raising questions about the true purpose of this penetration and the purposes for which Abu Dhabi has sought to consolidate this influence.

Since the coup of 3 July 2013, UAE investments in Egypt have expanded steadily to include the acquisition of direct economic privileges and facilities by the regime in vital and sensitive sectors, which, according to economists, has transformed it from an external investor to a key partner in those sectors.

The latest episodes of the recent "The Story of the Rest" showcased some of the UAE's investment in sensitive sectors in Egypt, which included sectors such as medicine, communications, maritime transport and ports, and how this could help Abu Dhabi intervene in Egyptian political affairs, and the threat it could pose. Egyptian national security.

According to UAE Minister of State Sultan Al Jaber, his country's economic influence in Egypt has included the acquisition of infrastructure projects in vital sectors such as energy, housing, food security, education, vocational training, healthcare, transport and communications.

Observers fear that this influence of the UAE and the financing of Abu Dhabi military deals to the Egyptian army and the involvement of the deals in which there are suspicions of corruption, subject to the Egyptian political decision of the Emirati will.

According to official reports, the UAE ranks first in the list of countries investing in Egypt in terms of the number of projects, and in third place among the top ten countries investing in the country worth investments of $ 14.7 billion between 2013 and 2017.

According to these sources, non-productive sectors have the highest percentage of UAE investments such as telecommunications and information technology (59%) and banks (17%).

In the telecommunications and technology sector, the Egyptian Ministry of Investment revealed in a previous report that the UAE investments in the Egyptian ICT sector exceeded $ 2 billion.

Investment in the ICT sector in Egypt was confined to sovereign entities in the country, or any foreign investor after obtaining security clearances, for reasons related to national security.Therefore, the UAE's expansion in this sector reveals the political influence it enjoys in Egypt.

In the health sector, UAE's Abraaj Capital, a private equity firm, has acquired the largest medical entities in Egypt, moving it from an investor to a monopolist in the sector that serves millions of citizens.

These deals included the purchase of 12 private hospitals, most notably Cairo specialist, Badrawi, Cairo, Cleopatra and Nile, as well as the most famous laboratory analysis, including the laboratory and the tower, as well as the purchase of Amon Pharmaceuticals.

Leaked reports
In 2016, Egyptian media published a leaked report from the Administrative Control Authority, warning that the UAE's domination of Egypt's medical sectors posed a “threat to Egypt's national security,” as well as suspicions of “money laundering” and suspicions about the purpose of the purchase.

In the ports sector, the UAE investments included major projects that started before 2011, most notably the project "Ain Sokhna" overlooking the Red Sea, where Dubai Ports Company obtained the right to manage it with a 90% share under a controversial deal, and Egyptian newspapers published documents revealing the existence of corruption In which.

Instead of investigating the matter, the Suez Canal Economic Zone signed a partnership with DP World to implement projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

Based on the disclosure of the program of the UAE investments in these sensitive sectors, the researcher specializes in economic and political affairs Mohammed Haidar, "it represents a national danger affecting all the Egyptian people," especially in light of suspicions of espionage that the UAE had previously in several global issues.

With Egypt's investment environment volatile and volatile, Haidar considers Abu Dhabi's keenness to invest in those sectors a matter of great suspicion, warning of the possibility of evasion or money laundering from companies controlled by Abu Dhabi.

Contrary to what is known in the investment custom of creating every million dollars for jobs for 40 people, the UAE investments in the minimum estimates, which amount to approximately $ 7 billion, provided only about 19 thousand jobs, while it should provide about 250 A job opportunity.

Other goals
In the framework of the seminar, former Egyptian Minister of Investment Yahya Hamed stressed that the Egyptian people never benefit from these investments, pointing out the decline in the volume of national output from 353 to 230 billion dollars after floating the pound, and pointed to the increase of poverty rate to 33%, according to the latest statistics Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics.

He pointed out that although Abu Dhabi has acquired important institutions in vital sectors such as health, energy and ports, it has not submitted any project that serves the Egyptian citizen and is in his interest in important sectors such as education and production.

Economist Mustafa Abdel Salam agrees with the statement of the former Minister of Investment, stressing that the UAE investments are concentrated in non-productive sectors that do not add value to the Egyptian economy, and away from sectors such as industry and agriculture, and thus achieve other objectives unrelated to the interest of the Egyptian citizen. .

Abdul Salam believes that UAE investments are monopolized in some sensitive sectors such as the health sector, pointing out that governing them in one of the most sensitive sectors such as the health sector allows them to manipulate it at will.

He pointed out that the lack of specific figures for UAE investments in Egypt, and the multiple accounts in this, is intended to create a kind of ambiguity so that the citizen does not know the size and weight of these investments and sectors that are concentrated.

While acknowledging that each country should be interested in diversifying its investment sources, he stressed that this should not have a negative impact on the national security of the country, citing the US position on Chinese companies and fear for national security from their influence.

On the other hand, economist Abdel Nabi Abdel Mottaleb believes that the estimates of the UAE investments in Egypt are "normal" and that the UAE capital has found many lucrative opportunities in the Egyptian market, and the growth of these investments represents a common benefit for the Egyptian and UAE economies alike. .