Russia announces establishing industrial zone in Egypt in 2021

CAIRO – 12 February 2019: Russia announced in the National Projects papers posted on its website on Monday, Feb. 11 that its first overseas industrial zone in Egypt will be established in 2021, according to Taas news agency.

On February 1, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi issued decree No. 420 of 2018 approving an agreement between the governments of Egypt and Russia concerning the establishment and operation of the Russian Industrial Zone in the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt, which was signed in Moscow on May 23, 2018.

The decree was published in the official gazette Al-Waqa'i' al-Misriyya on Jan. 23, 2019. As per the Egyptian constitution, any presidential decree shall be published in the official gazette to come into force.

Since February 2015, Egypt and Russia have been negotiating $7 billion worth of Russian investments in the Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) project in the East Port Said region.

RIZ will be established on an area of 5.25 million square meters and will be built over three phases, according to a statement issued by the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The project will be conducted on three phases; the first phase spans over 1 million square meters and will be carried out by a Russian developer who will also work on attracting Russian investors and companies throughout 2018 and 2019. This phase will create 7,300 jobs in the construction field.