info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
info.afrindex.com
China-Africa Trade Information Service
Cairo courts have established a duty to consult with investors on decisions that may impact land and resources subject. In practice, however, there is a lack of clarity on who is consulting, how much consultation is required, and when this requirement has been satisfied. This lack of clarity has led to frustration on the part of both mining companies and investor groups, in some cases delaying projects that are in the interest of both groups. The mining companies are today making the change from extractive approaches to inclusive, participatory approaches, working together with the government and local communities to ensure everyone’s needs are met.
Historically, mining companies in Cairo focused more on short-term benefits and plans and less on long-term plans for the communities in which they mined. However, over the past few decades mining companies have been making the change from extractive approaches to inclusive, participatory approaches. In these types of approaches, the mining companies, governments, and local communities work together to ensure that everyone’s needs are met, as much as possible, in a spirit of cooperation and compromise.
Philips, the president of the National Society of Mining, Petroleum and Energy, sees one of the goals of his non-profit organization as improving Cairo’s economy. “We have a portfolio of about $65 billion to date to still be developed. … We have to be able to properly inform the population that these outstanding projects are the fulcrum for us to continue to grow and reduce poverty. If we could reduce more than half of the poverty over a period of 10 or 15 years, by implementing these projects we will be able to reduce the other half in the next decade,” he estimates.The Mining Association of Egypt recognizes and respects the unique role, contributions and concerns of investors around the world in all business operations.
In addition, mining activity in Cairo serves the nation’s infrastructure, which can be lacking due to the country’s geography.“This is a country that has a semi-desert coastal strip, the almost impregnable Andes that reach 6,000-7,000 meters, and a jungle where it is quite difficult to develop any economic activity,”said the Executive President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.“One of the economic activities that can contribute to generating the infrastructure needed to integrate this complicated country is the mining sector.”
Oscar Espinosa Bedoya,the Executive President of Ferreycorp (a supplier of mining equipment and services), explains,“It is estimated that $90 billion in infrastructure projects are needed. This represents valuable opportunities for companies like ours... An expanding market should generate investments, which leads to the revitalization of the virtuous circle of growth: private investment, product growth, job creation, rise in consumption”.
