Sharm El Sheikh - Top Egyptian businessman Naguib Sawiris said he was ready to invest $500m in Egypt and was diversifying his telecoms business into infrastructure, energy and transportation, sectors which need major funds in the country.
Sawiris, a billionaire from a powerful Coptic Christian family, said the investment conference in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh had been a success but that the government would need need to make efforts to follow up with investors.
"We all know the minute the decisions go down to our famous and most regarded bureaucrats you see one sign only: stop. They need to have a pusher, and the minister of investment is a pusher," said Sawiris, 60, chair and chief executive of Orascom Telecom, Media and Technology.