Morsi plans economic reforms-India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Egypt’s Islamist leader Morsi has vowed to carry out tough structural reforms to overhaul the country’s ailing economy. A better environment for business and investment will be created, participants in a meeting between corporate executives and the President said. The move by President Mohammed Morsi, who hails from the Muslim Brotherhood, aimed to ease fears that an Islamist-led economic programme could dampen investment, particularly in tourism. Morsi vowed that Egypt would remain a secular state, Ahmed Ghanim, head of biotech firm Bio Natural America Institute, said. According to Express.co.uk, Ghanim and two US officials in the meeting confirmed that Morsi said that he respects his country’s landmark peace treaty with Israel. Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood has a decades-old enmity with neighbouring Israel, the report said. The face-to-face meeting at Cairo was organized to introduce companies, many of which already have billions of dollars invested in Egypt, to the new president, who was elected in June. According to the report, it is part of a four-day mission to Egypt organized by the US Chamber of Commerce. The meeting was also a chance for Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected president, to give reassuring messages that he views foreign investment as a key pillar for development and alleviating widespread poverty. Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides, who was among a number of US officials in the meeting, said that Morsi laid out a broad vision for Egypt that was ‘wholesome’ and ‘focused’. "He was impressive and understands the challenges his country faces and understands the importance of Egypt on the world stage," Nides said after the meeting.

Morsi pledges reforms to overhaul economy