Emirati anger over corruption in Egypt dominates Sisi ‘s visit

Emirati anger over the corruption of state investment in Egypt has overshadowed Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s visit to Abu Dhabi.

Sisi will discuss with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces Mohammed bin Zayed the latest developments in the region and issues of common interest in Libya, Syria and Palestine, as well as the file of the Gulf reconciliation and developments.

Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted an Egyptian government source as saying that the agenda of the visit will include a political split in which Sisi will discuss with Bin Zayed the latest developments in the region, mainly the Gulf reconciliation efforts, and attempts to bridge the views that have been going on for several weeks which Egypt is not part of it, according to the source.

Also on the agenda of the visit is a file of joint support for the position of the leader of the militia in eastern Libya, Major General Khalifa Haftar.

The economic part of the visit will focus on “avoiding some of the problems that have preoccupied the UAE government in the recent period regarding its investments in Egypt and its assistance to the ruling regime.”

The source revealed that UAE officials informed a number of Egyptian ministers during a recent visit by a number of Emirati businessmen to Egypt last month, dissatisfied with the way in which UAE aid to Egypt is managed, whether allocated to the government or that Sisi is authorized to deal with the army.

The source pointed out that UAE officials discovered the existence of serious shortcomings and irregularities and excesses in the timing of disbursement of some aid payments and the time to achieve their benefit and not to use some of them for the purposes allocated to them, and asked Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli to adopt a mechanism for the joint review of some of the misappropriated financial items, according to their vision .

The source said that there are pressures within the UAE regime to stop the flow of grants and investments to the Egypt until reviewing what has been achieved in some of the stalled files, since 2015 until now, which include projects that are disabled and financial assistance Egypt did not explain the ways of spending.

A few days ago, a report was published by other government sources that some Emirati businessmen who recently visited Egypt to follow up projects in the new administrative capital and the northern coast expressed fears that these projects could not be utilized on the planned dates due to the delay of the Army Engineering Authority in the delivery of facilities. The roads were scheduled to be completed by the end of last year, due to the preoccupation of the Authority in many other projects that Sisi wants to open continuously, at the same time relying on small-scale construction companies and banning the entry of other companies more efficient in some projects.

According to these sources, there is a “growing restlessness in the UAE” because of the misbehavior of the army and its companies in many of the assistance received by the state and Sisi authorized the army to manage, especially at the level of new city projects.

The UAE is currently the country with the largest investments in the Egyptian market with a total investment of $6.8 billion. The number of companies invested with UAE contributions in Egypt is about 1141 companies in many productive and service sectors.

The volume of trade between the two countries rose to $3.3 billion last year, compared to about $2.2 billion in 2015. Egyptian exports to the UAE amounted to about $2 billion in 2018, while imports amounted to about $1.3 billion.