SCZONE provides promising opportunities for German companies: Sisi to German business community

Ahram Online , Tuesday 19 Jul 2022

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi asserted that Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) provides promising opportunities for German companies that seek to take advantage of Egypt's strategic location as a hub for production, Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady said on Monday.

Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi
Egypt s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi speaks during a roundtable meeting with representatives of the German business community and heads of giant German industrial companies on Tuesday 19 July,2022 Photo courtesy of Egyptian presidential spokesman Facebook page.

 

In a roundtable meeting with representatives of the German business community and heads of German industrial giants, El-Sisi highlighted the various investment opportunities offered by mega projects in Egypt, particularly industrial and logistical areas in the SCZONE.

In July, the SCZONE and German energy storage firm H2 Industries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to build the first waste-to-hydrogen plant in the zone, with total investments amounting to $4 billion. A year earlier, the SCZONE signed an initial contract with Mercedes-Benz to establish a logistics park at the canal’s Ain Sokhna industrial zone.

During Monday's meeting, El-Sisi also praised the positive developments in economic and trade relations between Egypt and Germany during the past few years.

The volume of trade exchange between the two countries totalled 5.1 billion euros in 2021 with German investments in Egypt amounting to about 2.9 billion euros, according to previous statements by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Nevine Gamea.

The meeting was attended by a number of German officials and the Egyptian ministers of foreign affairs, electricity and renewable energy, planning and economic development, petroleum and mineral resources, transportation and trade and industry.

The president also asserted that Egypt’s recent qualitative leap in various development sectors reflects the strong will of the state to maximise its potential and achieve sustainable development, which will increase opportunities available for German investments and create new markets for German products.

He also expressed Egypt’s keenness to continue developing economic and commercial cooperation relations with the German business community in the future. This is in addition to fostering joint investments to support economic development in Egypt

For their part, the attendees praised the progress made in Egypt’s economic reform and the remarkable growth in the economy, especially through the measures that have been taken to speed up the development process and improve the investment environment.

They also hailed the national projects that are implemented despite the stressful economic conditions at the international level, asserting their keenness to make future investments in Egypt, especially in the health, energy, technology, tourism, communications, automobile and transportation sectors.

During his two-day visit to Berlin, El-Sisi discussed enhancing bilateral relations and boosting coordination on regional and international issues in meetings with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Monday.

On Tuesday, El-Sisi held a meeting with German Minister of Foreign Affairs Annalena Baerbock.

The president's visit to Germany is the first since Scholz took office in November and the fifth for El-Sisi as president. Since he took office in 2014, El-Sisi has previously visited Germany in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, where he discussed many issues of mutual concern with former Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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