Letters — Saudi-Egypt ties

The pictures of Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi meeting Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman were delightful. The thriving Saudi-Egyptian ties date back to decades ago. Mursi’s visit to Saudi Arabia brought into light the relation between the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Kingdom.
President Mursi’s visit to Saudi Arabia was of special significance because it supported the commonalities between the two nations, whose foundations were laid by King Abdul Aziz. Relations between the two nations were based on the intermarriage between their societies. Egypt hosts more than 700,000 Saudi family members who reside there, or were sent by the Saudi government, to study in Egypt. Saudi Arabia has around 1.7 million Egyptians who work in several domains. The number of Egyptian pilgrims is estimated at 1.5 million per year and Saudi tourists in Egypt account for half a million tourists per year.
The Saudi-Egyptian axis plays a prominent role in the stability of the Arab region. This axis also responds to the needs of each phase depending on the regional and global developments and based on the strong ties between the two countries and people that contribute to the rapprochement and stability in the region.
Mursi’s visit to Saudi Arabia is a highly important event because it was his first foreign visit, which in itself underlines the strong relations between the two countries and its people. Recent reports have shown an increase in the size of commercial exchange between Saudi Arabia and Egypt in the first quarter of 2012. Commercial exchange has increased by 50 percent, which is estimated at $1.21 billion. Saudi imports to Egypt have been valued at $ 682 million while the total value of Egyptian exports to Saudi Arabia reached $ 528 million in comparison to the same period last year when it recorded an average of $ 800 million. In 2011, the gross trade exchange reached around $ 4.75 billion while total investments in Egypt were estimated at $ 27 billion.
Egypt enjoys a privileged position in the hearts of the Saudi people and government because it represents a long ancient history that attracts people from all over the world and because it is currently a large country that embraces all Arab citizens and highly contributes to the economy of the Arab region. (Mohammed Sayeed Lutfullah, Dhahran)


Mortgage law
The mortgage law has long been awaited and will certainly help regulate the entire mortgage business in a smooth and transparent manner. In the absence of such a regulatory framework, the only means of obtaining finance from the banks and the financial institutions against any property was by means of officially transferring the owned property to the lending institution and thus losing the title. The borrower would only get the title back after the payment of the entire loan even if the amount of the loan were to be a small percent of the total value of the property. Moreover, this was creating enormous difficulties in operating the businesses as the borrower would be dependent on the lender for issuing different authorizations related to the property in its capacity as the official owner.
As commented by most of the officials and experts, the new law will boost investments in the real estate as well as provide an easy means for thousands of middle income group people to obtain financing to build or purchase houses. Further, it will not only enable the industrialists and businessmen to acquire the real estate by mortgaging the purchased property without hindrances but also allow them to seek financing to operate their businesses against the property they own but without losing the ownership officially. This should also enable them to raise finances as and when required from different sources as they will still be owning the property pledged. (Safi H. Jannaty, Dammam)