NEW DELHI (IANS) -— Leveraging its vastly liberalized economy, Egypt hopes for a quantitative jump in Indian investments and for greater tourist inflows from this country, its officials say.

India is currently the second largest Asian investor in Egypt and 12th overall and hopes it will propel into the top 10 among all foreign investors in the not too distant future, Walaa M. El Hussieny of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zone (GAFI) said.

Simultaneously, Egypt hopes the number of Indian tourists will double to 130,000 in two years from the present 65,000, said Khaled Makhkouf, chief executive officer of Tourism Development Authority.

The two officials are part of an eight-member high level delegation that is currently here on an investment and tourism promotion drive. The delegation will also visit Mumbai before heading for other East Asian destinations.

While in India, the delegation members will be interacting with industry lobbies, industrialists and government officials to point to the huge changes effected since 2004 to make the country investor-friendly.

To promote investments from this country, GAFI has established a separate Indian desk with each investor being allocated an accounts officer to process applications, arrange for visits and meetings with Egyptian officials and iron out any problems that might arise both during the establishment and the running of a project, El Hussieny pointed out.

"Our reforms for a better business environment have seen taxes on profit and income reduce to 20 percent from 40 percent, restructuring of the customs regime, and allowing full foreign ownership and full profit repatriation," she added, explaining why Egypt was such an attractive investment destination.

Over 40 Indian entities have currently invested some $450 million in the African country. Among the major companies represented are GAIL, Tata Motors, Ranbaxy, Oberoi, NIIT, HDFC, Dabur, Unit Trust of India, and Kirloskar.

"India currently ranks second among Asian investors in the free zones and sixth in the inland investment zones, El Hussieny said.