A farmer holds out grains of wheat in his hands during a harvest on a field in the El-Menoufia governorate, about 9.94 km (58 miles) north of Cairo April 23, 2013 (Photo: Reuters)
Egypt's supply minister and the head of the Sudan Business Federation signed the first agreement for investments in Egypt's new grain hub project in the Nile Delta.
The agreement was signed during the 16th Conference of Arab Businessmen and Investors held in Cairo on Sunday and Monday.
"This is the first agreement for the international logistics hub to store grains," Egypt's Supply Minister Khaled Hanafi said.
The ministry of supply announced last month that a project to build a logistics hub to store, trade and manufacture grains and seeds in the Nile Delta would cost a total of LE15 billion and would be completed in two years.
The plan aims to turn Egypt into a centre for processing and re-exporting grains and agriculture commodities via the Delta governorate of Damietta.
The ambitious megaproject aims to build high-tech storage silos, which will raise Damietta's storage capacity to 7.5 million tonnes from the current 2.5 million tonnes.
The government aspires also to create the region's first commodities mercantile exchange.
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