The Suez Canal Authority has signed a partnership deal on Tuesday with a Saudi International Expertise Association Academy – to build an iron and steel factory in Egypt’s Ain Sokhna.

The deal, announced by the Suez Canal Authority spokesperson, was signed by the head of the authority Mohab Mameesh and Saudi Prince Walid Bin Saud Bin Mosaed Bin Abdel-Aziz. The factory will be built on land owned by the authority in Ain Sokhna, northwest of the Gulf of Suez.

The factory will have an annual production capacity of 1.2 million tonnes, and should act as a first step in the creation of a compound for iron and steel industries, according to the statement.

The deal is worth $500 million and another $1 billion in investments, according to Mameesh.

During Saudi King Salman's visit last April, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed loan agreements worth $24 billion. The two Arab nations also signed a memorandum of understandings (MoU) on future investment agreements.

These agreements include establishing an Egyptian-Saudi investment fund worth some $16 billion, in addition to Josur Al-Mahabba Company developing the Suez Canal area to an amount worth EGP 3 billion (roughly $337 million).

MoUs also covered establishing a company to develop a six-kilometre-squared industrial zone at the Suez Canal with total investments of $3.3 billion, according to a statement on the Ministry of International Cooperation’s website.

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