Qatar continues to look for investment opportunities overseas. In late May the international co-operation minister led a delegation of businessmen to Cairo, pledging to earmark up to US$10bn for investment in projects across Egypt. The idea behind the investments-which were agreed in principle during a meeting between the emir and the Egyptian prime minister, Essam Sharaf during his visit to the Qatari capital, Doha, in April-is to generate jobs and help the Egyptian economy after the uprising that ousted the former president, Hosni Mubarak, in February. The Egyptian finance minister, Samir Rezwan, was reported as saying on May 24th that Qatar had expressed its readiness to help finance the construction of two ports, one in Alexandria, and a US$9bn project in Port Said.

Qatar is also in talks with the Cyprus government to set up a joint venture to build a hotel, shopping, office and apartment complex, costing over US$150m, in Nicosia. The Qatari plan was approved by the Cypriot cabinet on May 20th.