ANKARA
Egypt's president has said his country will achieve an economic growth rate of seven percent by 2020.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum at Davos on Thursday, President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said that economic reforms, combined with foreign investment would drive higher employment and growth in Egypt.
He said: "We are working to reduce the budget deficit and public debt along with increasing taxation."
"We are also adjusting our monetary policy to reduce inflation."
Al-Sisi added that reforms would be made to "remove all obstacles that have previously hindered private investment" and legislation would be introduced to pass a Unified Investment Law.
"All of this is a process that would be conducive to international investment," he continued.
'Infrastructure opportunities'
The government would favor the establishment of public-private partnerships of particular interest to international investors who would find opportunities in infrastructure projects, al-Sisi said.
One such project would be the creation of a dual carriageway on the Suez Canal; others would involve the development of logistics and related opportunities along it, he announced.
"The new Egypt must open to the world to make progress," al-Sisi insisted.
Gross domestic product growth in Egypt was 2.9 percent in 2014, according to World Bank statistics.
Disputed election
Al-Sisi has repeatedly been criticized during his presidency for his hardline policies, with both domestic and international critics and human rights groups accusing him of heading a military dictatorship.
He was elected president in a disputed election in 2014 after leading a coup d'état against Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected head of state in Egyptian history.
Amnesty International said that, in the period after the coup led by Al-Sisi in his position of General at the Ministry of Defense, security forces including the army killed more than 120 protesters, military courts unfairly tried more than 12,000 civilians and the army arrested women protesters and subjected them to forced "virginity tests".
