Egypt s Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said on Monday that Egypt will shed light on the threats and challenges of informal mining in the Arab world at the 15th International Arab Mineral Resources Conference in Cairo this week.
The Egyptian minister s comments came during his speech at the opening of the conference.
President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi opened the event.
The three-day conference is being attended by a number of Arab officials, including Saudi Arabia s Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khaled Al-Faleh, Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Abul Gheit, Egypt s Parliament Speaker Ali Abdel Aal, and the Egyptian ministers of investment and planning.
The conference is being chaired this year by El-Molla, who took over the presidency of the conference from Saudi Arabia s Al-Faleh.
El-Molla said in his speech at the conference that the coming two years will shed light on the challenges as well as the means to boost investments in the mineral resources sector.
“Through cooperation we will be working on a long-term strategic plan as well as training to overcome the threats of informal mining,” he said.
The Egyptian minister also highlighted the importance of petroleum resources, saying that they had contributed to a 15 percent increase in Egypt s GDP.
Al-Faleh told attendees that Saudi Arabia and Egypt share strong ties, and also share the same a common vision of the economic, political, mineral and security fields in terms of bilateral cooperation.
Saudi Arabia is the second largest Arab country investing in Egypt, with total investments worth $27 billion, according to the Egyptian investment ministry.
The Saudi Arabian minister also announced the efforts made over the past two years which aimed at increasing investments in the mineral resources field in the Arab world.
The aim of the three-day conference, titled "Mining, investment and economic development in the Arab world,” is to discuss mining prospects and to promote investment opportunities in the field.
Egypt first hosted the biennial event in 1999, the seventh conference.
