"Foreign firms have also pursued partnerships with Egypt’s military producers in order to secure a piece of Egypt’s roomy market for renewable energy and environmental cleanup projects. China signed a memorandum of understanding with the AOI for collaboration in solar and wind energy projects. European firms have also been active in this area. German and Danish companies have concluded licensing agreements and technology transfers with the AOI to generate wind energy, while Spanish and Canadian firms are partnering with the AOI to build a photovoltaic plant near Cairo. Other environment-related projects in which Military, Inc. is involved include wastewater treatment, waste incineration and kits for converting vehicles to operate on natural gas. A report compiled by Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering highlighted the military’s capacity to manufacture the components necessary for a renewable energy industry, and many commercial attachés at foreign embassies also stress the investment potential in these areas. Such marketing devices have paid off: Germany invested 50 million euros in rice straw recycling, building two factories in collaboration with the AOI. [15] The rice straw is to be pressed and transported under a contract concluded with another military institution, the National Service Projects Organization. [16]
The army’s drive to gain access to transnational capital is further reflected in the rhetoric of the newly appointed minister for military production, Maj. Gen. ‘Ali Sabri, who oversaw the expenditure of 1 billion Egyptian pounds (about $166 million) to expand the military’s fertilizer production and water treatment and sanitation operations in 2006-2008. Although Sabri has made many of the same pronouncements as his predecessor regarding job training for young graduates and industrial development in remote areas, he has been especially fond of pointing to the numerous foreign partnerships the military has secured with the US, Russia, Great Britain, China, South Africa, France, Germany and Italy. In a barrage of press interviews following his appointment, Sabri cited a long list of the military’s economic successes, including a 5 percent growth in production in the period after the uprising began, the completion of Egypt’s first (and according to Sabri’s statements, the region’s only) hot steel rolling mill, the scheduled completion of an industrial complex on a desert road northeast of Cairo, and the intensification of commercial joint ventures with major international companies that were “keen” to move ahead with planned expansion despite continued political unrest.
The SCAF has also succeeded in restarting talks on some of the public-private partnerships that were put on hold when foreign investors demanded enhanced guarantees against currency fluctuations and political risk. The primary sectors targeted for public-private financing -- hospitals, wastewater treatment plants and roads -- are also the traditional purview of the military and have featured prominently in Sabri’s media pronouncements."
The army’s drive to gain access to transnational capital is further reflected in the rhetoric of the newly appointed minister for military production, Maj. Gen. ‘Ali Sabri, who oversaw the expenditure of 1 billion Egyptian pounds (about $166 million) to expand the military’s fertilizer production and water treatment and sanitation operations in 2006-2008. Although Sabri has made many of the same pronouncements as his predecessor regarding job training for young graduates and industrial development in remote areas, he has been especially fond of pointing to the numerous foreign partnerships the military has secured with the US, Russia, Great Britain, China, South Africa, France, Germany and Italy. In a barrage of press interviews following his appointment, Sabri cited a long list of the military’s economic successes, including a 5 percent growth in production in the period after the uprising began, the completion of Egypt’s first (and according to Sabri’s statements, the region’s only) hot steel rolling mill, the scheduled completion of an industrial complex on a desert road northeast of Cairo, and the intensification of commercial joint ventures with major international companies that were “keen” to move ahead with planned expansion despite continued political unrest.
The SCAF has also succeeded in restarting talks on some of the public-private partnerships that were put on hold when foreign investors demanded enhanced guarantees against currency fluctuations and political risk. The primary sectors targeted for public-private financing -- hospitals, wastewater treatment plants and roads -- are also the traditional purview of the military and have featured prominently in Sabri’s media pronouncements."
