It seems that Qatari investments in Egypt irk some people who claim that Qatar is going to occupy Egypt for reasons that are well known to observers of the Egyptian political scene. However, investments by countries that support the remnants of the former regime do not cause similar irritation to this group of people.
The Egyptian minister of information has indicated that the money spent on the media is three times advertisement revenues. No charity will fund a media machinery that works to scare Arab investors away from Egypt in order to overthrow Egypt’s elected president.
My understanding is that these countries are afraid that the revolution will spread from Egypt to them, despite repeated assurances from Dr Mohamed Mursi that Egypt will never do this. But leaders in these countries do not seem to get it.
It is clear that these people have fear of the revolution being exported, although President Mursi said at the Arab Summit in Doha that Egypt did not intervene in other countries’ affairs. Nor will it allow any country to intervene in its own affairs, Mursi said. But everybody should know that there is a limit to patience.
I visited Egypt last month. It was not my first visit to the country after the glorious January 25 revolution. I spent last year’s summer vacation in August with my family between the country’s northern coast and Al Maamoura beach in Alexandria. During my stay in Egypt there were many electricity outages due to the energy problems left behind by the previous regime, and I heard the Egyptians’ complaints about lack of investments.
Back at the Cairo International Airport, when I was waiting for my bags, an old man in his sixties recognised my traditional Qatari attire and asked me if my visit to Egypt was for tourism or business. I answered him by saying, “Neither”. “I came here to pack the pyramids after Qatar hired them,” and the man burst into laughter and said, “I think our media wanted to destroy the country.”
“Egypt is not for the Freedom and Justice Party or its opponents but for all Egyptians,” he added. “We welcome you in your second homeland,” the man said.
Another man, who apparently was listening to our conversation, asked me: “You Qataris, for how much did you hire the pyramids?” I replied, “For $200bn for five years!” He laughed and said, “This is so good, we defeated you in price”.
I watched the weekly TV show “Al Bernamege” (The Programme) presented by Bassem Youssef on the private CBC channel. I saw Bassem talking about the bugaboo of Qatar wanting to buy the Suez Canal, in the light of allegations made by former presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq.
His mocking Qatar in a sarcastic show did not bother me as much as his belittling our greater Arab sister Egypt did. We Qataris cannot accept this at all. We also cannot accept what Bassem Youssef wrote about Saudi Arabia, claiming that it is providing Israeli jets with fuel to kill our brothers and sisters in Palestine. We also cannot accept his mockery of Salafists in the same article.
The strange thing is that Bassem Youssef and other promoters of the Qatar bugaboo tale did not express any concern about France being the third largest European investor in Egypt. Do they know how much France invests in Egypt? Who are the first and the second largest European investors in Egypt and how much is the value of their investments?
Do they even know that France is going to fund the third phase of the third line of the metro project with €940m? Do our respectable readers know that Qatar National Bank’s acquisition of Egypt’s National Société Générale Bank has angered some bodies in Egypt although the French own 75 percent of the shares? Is it reasonable that foreigners have become dearer to them than their fellow Arabs?
Qatar has made investments across the world as part of its strategy to diversify its investments so that the national budget does not depend solely on revenues from oil and gas. These investments are welcomed everywhere and Egypt needs its fellow Arab countries to support it financially, create jobs and ensure a decent life for its citizens.
This was what the Emir HH Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, may Allah bless him, said in the Arab Summit in Doha.
Some Egyptian and Gulf media outlets keep repeating that Qatar has funded the Muslim Brotherhood with $5bn, not Egypt. This is hilarious. Egypt’s Foreign Minister said Saudi investments in Egypt had reached $4bn. Can anybody claim that this money has been poured in for the sake of the Brotherhood, not Egypt? And anyone who thinks that Qatari support to Egypt is intended for a specific group, let him show us how that can be done. The Muslim Brotherhood is in power and Qatar has to deal with the government, regardless of who is in power.
Egypt will become strong again, and the sun of the Arab nation will rise once more by Allah’s grace.
