Egypt, France review silo project

Egyptian Minister of Supply and Internal Trade Ali el-Moselhi on Sunday met with Eric Chevalier, Ambassador of France to Egypt to follow up projects implemented in co-operation with the French government, including the status of the grant agreement provided by the French Development Agency (AFD).

The meeting was held after the decision of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi to approve the grant agreement provided by the AFD in the amount of €56 million for the benefit of the Egyptian Holding Company for Silos and Storage.

The agreement aims to establish and develop six silos in six governorates with a total storage capacity of 420,000 tonnes of grain silos throughout the country.

The agreement also includes the supply of dryers to these sites, as well as providing the latest technological methods for the silos system by linking all links of the trading process and automating them to ensure electronic control through a modern system that includes all current and future expected data and information, starting from the arrival of wheat to the stage of delivering subsidised bread to beneficiaries.

This will facilitate follow-up, monitoring, and governance of the bread system, as well as providing the competent authorities with all the necessary information in a timely manner.

The meeting also discussed the Food Centres project, which is one of the new projects that are being discussed, as it represents a qualitative leap in the modern wholesale markets system.

The project is considered to be the third generation of developed markets and has global specifications and requirements. It includes many components that serve the local market as well as the export market.

The green food centers are distinguished by being an integrated system for vegetables, fruits, meat, poultry, and fish.

This project came as a result of Egyptian-French co-operation through a comprehensive technical support program for all wholesale markets in Egypt to identify their future needs within an ambitious plan to spread and update wholesale markets in all governorates of the republic in coordination and partnership with the private sector within the framework of the state ownership document.