A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed to support micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and offer owners opportunities to increase production.
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation (EGPC) and Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) signed the MoU.
Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Wealth Tarek el-Molla attended the ceremony.
The MoU covers the establishment of more filling stations for vehicles fuelled by natural gas and more facilities to convert cars to run on both gas and petrol.
The MoU is a milestone in co-operation between state agencies as part of a government programme to encourage the launch of SMEs and create jobs, el-Molla said.
Those who want to have their own businesses will be provided with finance and technical support and training programmes will be available for entrepreneurs to support the transfer of modern technologies.
For his part, MSMEDA CEO Basil Rahmi said the MoU comes in line with directives from the political leadership, who is deeply interested in environmental initiatives and their economic impact.
Rahmi noted that his agency is implementing the initiative in co-operation with the Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, represented by two companies, Cargas and Gastec to facilitate funding and encourage motorists to convert their cars to run on natural gas.
MSMEDA has so far made LE715 million available to convert 103,000 vehicles.
