CAIRO, April 27 (MENA) - Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouli stressed on Sunday that the Suez Canal Economic Zone, an important logistics gateway linking the East to the West, provides promising opportunities to investors thanks to its strategic location and integrated infrastructure.

He lauded the Egyptian State's efforts in optimizing potentials of the Suez Canal economic zone and suppling it with the latest-of-the-art specifications.

The premier made the remarks during a meeting with chairman of the General Authority For Suez Canal Economic Zone Walid Gamal el Din. The meeting addressed the authority's activities, progress rate of projects carried out inside the economic zone as well as ongoing efforts to attract more investments.

Gamal el Din talked about the authority's ambitious plan to develop its harbors, modernize infrastructure, expand quays, increase capacity rates and improving efficiency of logistics services to increase its competitiveness at both regional and international levels.

He also expounded efforts to remove hurdles to investors and offer facilities to attract more investments to the economic zone.

Spokesman for the Cabinet Mohamed el Homsani said the meeting tackled the financial status of the authority and the outcome of promotional efforts as of the start of 2022/2023 fiscal year till March 2025.

He noted that 8.3-billion-dollar contracts for investment projects were concluded during this period to carry out 272 projects, including 262 projects in the industrial, logistics and service domains that will provide 40,209 jobs.

Till now, Gamal el-Din said 387 companies were established at the zone with a significant presence of investors from many European, Asian and Mideast countries, he said.

Since July 1, 2022 till March 31, 2025, as many as 77 operation licenses and 137 construction permits were issued, he added.

He also talked about the workflow of investments projects in Sokhna zone, one of the biggest industrial areas affiliated with the authority, saying the zone now houses 13 industrial developers and seeks to attract investments to localize industry.

The authority has already succeeded in attracting global companies to establish projects as part of its industrial localization strategy, covering sectors such as new and renewable energy, electronics, pharmaceuticals, automotive parts, metal components, and other promising industries.

He also referred to progress rate of Qantara West projects, saying 15 projects were agreed upon between July 2023 and March 2025 with a total investment cost of up to $500 million.

Talking about the industrial zone in Ismailia, he said this zone aims at creating a new urban community and attracting projects in the industrial and services domain like technology and semiconductor manufacturing, electronics and engineering equipment production, photovoltaic solar cells, vocational training centers and mining industries.

He noted that the authority succeeded in securing new investments worth 47 million dollars in silica mining and modern construction materials, saying these new investments will provide 900 job opportunities.

Gamal el-Din expounded activities at East Port Said industrial zone, saying the area aims at providing competitive investment opportunities.

He said the zone hosts a wide range of manufacturing activities and industrial clusters, including automotive and electric battery production, engineering tools and equipment, modern construction materials, as well as logistics services. (MENA)
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