CAIRO, March 24 (MENA) – Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli said the State is working to remove any obstacles to increasing exports.

Madbouli made the remarks on Monday during a meeting that he held with members of the the Advisory Committee for Export Development, as they discussed the committee's work in the textile and readymade garment industry, agriculture and health.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Industry and Transport Kamel El-Wazir, Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Alaa Farouk, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El-Khatib, Head of the Egyptian Drug Authority Ali Al-Ghamrawy and Director of the Engineering Department of "Future of Egypt" Authority for Sustainable Development Khaled Salah.

The meeting took up proposals to develop the industry of textile and ready-made clothing, with members of the committee stressing that Egypt has significant opportunities to boost its exports in this sector, given its geographic location and the country's success in concluding numerous free trade agreements with countries around the world.

In this context, the meeting tackled an ambitious plan for increasing ready-made garment exports to USD 11.5 billion over the next six years, through several suggestions that include providing 5.5 million square meters of industrial lands in the area between Faiyum and Qena, in order to secure job opportunities in Upper Egypt governorates, in addition to conducting an accurate inventory of the unused assets of companies affiliated with the public business sector, with the aim of leasing suitable ones to investors.

The committee's members also proposed increasing the rate of tax rebates on textile and garment exports, under the export burden reimbursement program.

They also mulled proposals related to increasing the exports of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and supplies, nutritional supplements and herbal preparations, animal medicines and health supplies, cosmetics, innovative preparations and biopharmaceuticals.

The committee's members recommended the rapid expansion of Egyptian medical exports and increasing their competitiveness in global markets, given Egypt's role as a prominent player in the medical and pharmaceutical market in Africa and the Middle East.

They also recommended establishing a fair, flexible and predictable pricing system, launching new production lines for modern medicines and opening up new investment opportunities in global markets.

The committee's members underlined the importance of modern technology transfer to the pharmaceutical industry and veterinary preparations and vaccines, as well as enhancing the local added value to provide local drug companies with the technical knowledge, training, and expertise necessary to ensure investment sustainability.

Regarding the agriculture sector, the committee's members said challenges facing the agricultural sector are less than those facing other industrial sectors.

In this context, they proposed allocating nearly 300,00-500,00 feddans to the private sector for reclamation and cultivation within 3 years.

They also suggested strengthening EgyptAir Cargo's air freight fleet to increase Egyptian agriculture exports and facilitating the measures of establishing sorting and filling stations, as well as refrigerators in the Nile Delta through the single-window system.

The committee's members called for addressing some of the bureaucratic issues hampering the operation of factories and other production facilities, in addition to expanding the base of commercial representation offices. (MENA)

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