Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab stressed on Monday that 200 million pounds will be allocated in the new State budget to boosting industrial areas in Upper Egypt.

Mahlab, speaking during a meeting with representatives of Egyptian investors associations, said the finance minister assured him that this sum will be enlisted in the new budget for the industrial areas.

"We encourage serious investments and we are laying down necessary mechanisms to fight corruption," the premier said.

Corruption is now represented in bureaucracy and administrative corruption. The businessman who accepts corruption is corrupt and wants to live in a corrupt atmosphere, he said.

He underlined the importance of reporting any case of corruption.

The participants called for ending all criminal procedures against stumbling investors in Upper Egypt and engaging investors associations in negotiations with them.

The premier promised to discuss the file of stumbling industrialists in Upper Egypt with the Central Bank of Egypt to mull ways of settling their problems.

The participants also urged an iron fist on smuggling crimes, boosting Egyptian exports, providing more industrial lands and not imposing real estate taxes on factories.
Source: MENA