SCZone, Panama Canal sign agreement for joint cooperation

CAIRO - 13 June 2022: Chairman of the General Authority for Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) Yehia Zaki, signed Monday a cooperation agreement with Giovanni Bruno Ferrari, General Manager of Panama’s Colón Free Zone Administration.

 

The agreement aims for joint cooperation between the two regions and the exchange of information to provide an opportunity to attract investors from different regions to emphasize their international status, benefit from available human expertise and provide added value to create integrated production chains, as well as seeking to raise the performance level of future industrial zones, and attracting more sustainable investments in the industrial, logistical and commercial zones that they manage, especially that the two parties share the same vision, which is to become global leading economic centers and preferred destinations for investment.

 

It also aims to identify investment opportunities in the economic zone of the Suez Canal and its six affiliated ports overlooking the Red and Mediterranean Bahrain and 4 economic zones, including two integrated areas in Sukhna and East Port Said, and its distinguished location as a gateway to the African continent.

 

The agreement also aims to clarify the opportunities that the Egyptians can benefit from Panama as an outlet for the large Latin market that includes about 650 million people.

 

“Cooperation with Panama’s Colón Free Zone is the first of partnerships between the free zones in Africa and Latin America, and the contribution of that cooperation between the two regions in supporting global supply chains, especially in the current circumstances,” Yehia zaki stated.

 

For his part, Ferrari stressed that this cooperation with the SCZone represents a new start for the prospects of cooperation between the two countries, which leads to the exchange of experiences in various investment fields, especially due to the great importance of the Panama Canal, which is an important trade exchange window in Latin America.

 

He added that it also benefits from the inspiring economic zone experience as it is a focal point in the Middle East and Africa for trade exchange and various investment activities and a promising center for the production of green hydrogen, the new source of clean energy globally.

 

The Colon Free Zone was established in 1948 on the Caribbean coast of the Panama Strait in the vicinity of three international ports: (Cristóbal Port - Manzanillo International Port - Colon Container Terminal). That being said, an independent public body, responsible for monitoring all activities within the zone's boundaries, the Colon Free Zone currently accounts for more than $13 billion in exports (as per the 2022 forecast).