By Abd Elkader Rahman, Aswat Masriya Reaping 116 seats in Egypt’s newly-elected House of Representatives, businessmen already have their legislative agenda set out: The investment law, tax law and the law governing local municipalities, which they say have the most significant impact on Egypt’s ailing investment climate. Parliamentarian and Chairman of the Federation of Egyptian Industries Mohamed al-Sewedy, who ran with the “For the Love of Egypt” coalition, told Aswat Masriya that he believes that amending the investment law is a priority to prepare the state to become more competitive and to attract foreign investment. He added however, that it will take more than amending economic legislation to stimulate business activity, emphasizing that laws governing local administrations must see a significant overhaul to affect change in the provinces. Sewedy stressed that the conflict of interest and inconsistency between different government bodies must end, describing this as a necessity for economic growth and encouraging investors. With their current representation in parliament at 19.46 percent of the total 596 seats, businessmen have a higher percentage in parliament than they did under ousted president Hosni Mubarak in the 2010 parliament, which stood at 18 percent. Within…
