CAIRO: Hours after the GCC Summit in AlUla in Ƶ that witnessed Gulf reconciliation in the presence of Egyptian officials, the Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company opened the St. Regis Hotel in Cairo.
The inauguration came in the presence of Qatari Minister of Finance Ali Sharif Al-Emadi and his Egyptian counterpart, Mohamed Maait.
Al-Emadi is the first official to board a Qatari plane crossing Saudi and Egyptian airspace, directly from Doha to Cairo, since the outbreak of the crisis between Qatar and the Arab Quartet in June 2017.
The visit of the Qatari minister to Egypt is also the first by a Qatari official in nearly three years after the decision to cut ties and close the airspace between the two countries.
The St. Regis Hotel is one of Diar’s most important projects in Egypt, with investment of more than $1 billion, and with a construction area of more than 197,000 square meters, according to the company’s official Twitter account.
“We congratulate the Qatari Diar Company for the inauguration of this hotel today, which came as a result of the company’s decision to invest in the tourism sector, one of the most important sectors of the Egyptian economy. The increase in foreign investments in Egypt represents the importance of the Egyptian economy and the Egyptian government,” Maait said.
“By investing in this project through the Qatari Diar Company, Qatar practically confirms its commitment to contribute to supporting local communities and increasing job opportunities, and this project is one of the Qatari investments in Egypt exceeding $5 billion in various fields,” Al-Emadi said.
CEO of Diar, Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, said: “The project provides about 440 permanent job opportunities in the hotel and its attached facilities, and this number is expected to rise to 1,000 jobs, 95 percent of which are Egyptian workers.”
US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin added: “The completion of this project would not have been possible without the efforts of the Qatari Diar Company. By investing in this project, we can see the impact of economic cooperation in creating job opportunities and developing common interests in investment opportunities.”
Mnuchin met Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Tuesday and discussed ways to strengthen relations between Egypt and the US, as well as many regional issues, including the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam.
Qatari Diar, which owns the St. Regis Hotel, obtained an operating license after more than six years.
