"The right to privacy will remain a cornerstone of our legal system"

Egypt has become the first Arab and first African country to sign the OECD Declaration on International Investment and Multinational Enterprises. Egypt has made impressive progress in reforming its investment policies in recent years–foreign investment in manufacturing has been fully liberalised, for instance, with the exception of defence-related industries–but significant barriers to both foreign and domestic businesses remain. According to a new report on the country’s investment policies presented at the signing ceremony in July, barriers to entry have been eased for both domestic and foreign investors, customs procedures streamlined and a dedicated ministry set up in 2004 to promote and manage investment. The tax system in particular has been streamlined, with the corporate income tax rate cut from between 32% and 40% to a uniform 20% and the approximately 3,000 different types of exemptions eliminated.

Unemployment at historic highs, declining oil prices, plummeting government budgets and low investment due to persistent political uncertainty-one or more of these barriers to progress exist in many MENA states, but add them all and combine the security concerns in the aftermath of war and that is the unique challenge for Iraq. For years, arms and oil have been the major trade activity, but with security improvements being implemented in tandem with political, legal and regulatory reforms, investors are once again beginning to view the Mesopotamian cradle of civilisation also as a cradle of investment.