CAIRO – Vice President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) Mark Bowman praised Monday the role played by the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) in offering digital services for investors despite the repercussions of COVID-19 pandemic.
Bowman’s statements came during a meeting with SCZone head Yehya Zaki to announce the the launch of the second phase of the technical support presented by the bank to SCZone’s digital services offered to investors in the first half of this year.
A statement posted by SCZone on its website said “the SCZone is cooperating with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in launching the second phase of technical support provided by the bank during the first half of this year.
“This phase is based on the establishment of an integrated digital and interactive service, enabling it to fully manage the services provided, and integrate new services into a digital platform in accordance with the framework organisational body. This cooperation succeeded in ending the first phase which included: re-engineering and developing the first set of priority services that will pave the way for restructuring and digitization of the services for investors in the framework of SCZone 2020-2025 strategy’, said the statement.
“The launching of the second phase of cooperation with (EBRD) aims to implement the improvement program and raise the level of performance at the one-stop-shop for SCZone. The cooperation will serve to regulate the current status of services and special procedures provided to investors. It will provide technical support to improve the level of services by raising the efficiency of human calibers at the one-stop-shop, in addition to working on automating all services to simplify procedures and documents,” Zaki said during his meeting with Bowman.
“The Bank is delighted that the fruitful partnership with the SCZone is contributing to a successful delivery of an autonomous, digital and interactive One-Stop-Shop. The SCZone’s project is a good example of how we can speed-up the rollout of digital services,” said Bowman.
“This is because the Covid-19 crisis has accelerated the digital transformation across the EBRD region, including the development of digital tools and knowledge sharing on regulatory sandboxes, as well as accelerating digital government services for firms to improve the ease and transparency of doing business. At the end of 2021, the EBRD adopted its digital approach to advancing transition, which sets out a comprehensive framework on how the Bank will use its three instruments – investments, policy engagements, and advisory services – to support the digital transition in the economies where it invests,” the statement read quoted EBRD official.
According to the statement, this comes within the framework of the support of the Ministry of International Co-operation and the continuation of SCZone cooperation with EBRD in the field of technical support for the development of the one-stop service at the SCZone’s headquarters in Sokhna zone, “investors service headquarters”. According to the statement, “It aims to provide them with distinguished service, facilitate procedures and improve the level of service delivery for companies wishing to invest in SCZone. The one-stop service that the economic zone provides to its investors is part of the authority’s strategy, which is based on digital transformation as one of the main pillars of its strategy for the 2020/2025 plan.”
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is a multilateral bank that promotes private sector development and entrepreneurship initiatives in 38 economies across three continents. The bank is owned by 71 countries in addition to the European Union and the European Investment Bank. The bank investments aim to make the economies in its regions competitive, inclusive, well-governed, green, resilient, and integrated. Egypt has been a founding member of the bank since it began operations in 2012 and the bank has invested more than 8.7 billion euros in 145 projects in the country.
