CAIRO – Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan el Khatib said his ministry is keen on providing all forms of support for German companies to expand their business in the Egyptian market, which provides considerable investment incentives and abounds with skilled labor, highly qualified engineers, competitive wages and industrial lands.
Khatib made the comments during his meeting with representatives of Germany’s SMS group which is specialized in the metal industry.
The meeting took up the company’s plans for building a direct reduced iron factory in Egypt, where its production capacity is scheduled to reach about 2.5 million tons annually, with the possibility of expanding to reach 4 million tons annually.
The volume of investments in this project is expected to exceed one billion euros, and will provide about 1,000 job openings.
The minister agreed with the SMS group representatives to hold a meeting in Egypt in the coming period to find the appropriate partner for starting the project.
He also attended a business lunch organized by Egypt’s ambassador in Berlin, in the presence of officials from the Ghorfa Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the German Association of the Automotive Industry, as well as several German companies working in automotive industry, water desalination, infrastructure and transportation.
Khatib briefed the attendees on the Egyptian government’s plans for reforming financial, monetary, trade and industrial policies, in addition to introducing great investment incentives.
The investment minister currently pays an important visit to Germany for talks with senior officials of the German government and the business community on ways of cementing joint economic relations in different areas.
