Egypt’s Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Mohamed Farid Saleh met with Visa executives in Washington to discuss expanding the company’s investments in Egypt and establishing the country’s first TradeTech Sandbox, an AI-powered initiative designed to enhance exports and identify new markets using advanced data analytics.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the annual International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings and was led on Visa’s side by Robert Thomson, senior vice president and global head of government relations, alongside Caitlin McDonnell, senior director and head of international affairs.
Discussions centered on strengthening Visa’s presence in the Egyptian market and advancing plans to position Cairo as a regional hub for financial technology and digital innovation. Both sides also explored cooperation on a regulatory sandbox for foreign trade designed to support export growth through data-driven models.
Farid highlighted progress in digitizing Egypt’s non-banking financial sector, pointing to the adoption of electronic identification, e-KYC and e-contracting frameworks. He said these measures have contributed to a significant shift in the investment landscape, with the number of new investors in the Egyptian Exchange rising from 25,000 to 350,000 annually over the past three years, supported by digital onboarding systems. The reforms have also enabled individuals as young as 15 to open investment accounts.
The minister also outlined government plans to study the creation of specialized financial and technology zones built on three pillars: establishing an internationally aligned legal framework to attract venture capital; developing green data centers on Egypt’s northern coast powered by renewable energy, leveraging the 21 submarine cables passing through the Suez Canal to reinforce Egypt’s role as a global data hub; and localizing the software industry by drawing on Egyptian talent in mathematics and physics to drive AI value creation.
Visa executives affirmed their commitment to increasing investments in Egypt, noting that the company’s Cairo office has grown to more than 130 employees and serves as a regional hub for North Africa, the Levant and Pakistan. They highlighted ongoing initiatives including the Citizen Card project in Port Said and the Digital Villages initiative supporting micro-enterprises, as well as opportunities to collaborate on digitizing government services.
The meeting concluded with Farid inviting Visa to participate in establishing the TradeTech Sandbox at the Foreign Trade Training Center, an initiative intended to use AI to analyze export data and open new markets for Egyptian products. Visa expressed interest in contributing to the project.
