Industry is 1st way to achieve development boom: Minister

CAIRO – 16 October 2019: "Egypt was able to make unprecedented achievements in economic reform, infrastructure development and legislation issuance, which all call for the establishment of a strong industry as a way to achieve real development," Minister of Military Production Mohamed Said al-Assar said Wednesday.

Assar affirmed, "Industry is the milestone," and the first way to achieve a development boom in any country.

The minister added that Egypt played its role in stimulating investors and creating an encouraging investment climate, referring that the time has come for the private sector to play its role and stressing that the ministry is keen to involve the private sector in all its projects.

Assar praised the capabilities of "Egypt Can" conference to invite Egyptian investors abroad to achieve an industrial boom in Egypt, a case similar to the Asian Tigers.
This came during a session held at “Egypt Can” conference, entitled “Investment Opportunities in Egypt".

For his part, Co-Founder and Managing Director of the Citadel Foundation Hisham el-Khazindar said that Egypt has witnessed significant financial and structural changes during the previous phase.

“Now we are in a very different situation, and Egypt is capable of accommodating new investments after laying down the infrastructure,” Khazindar stated, calling for the need to shed light on the achievements in various sectors.

In a related context, Head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone Yahya Zaki stated that a number of foreign investors visited the economic zone and found real investment opportunities there. He noted that the economic zone spans on an area of 460 square kilometers, and includes six ports and four industrial zones, underlining that the region has witnessed major development in infrastructure.

Moreover, Head of Mut Company Michael Knight pointed out that Egypt enjoys great capabilities that qualify it to be at the forefront of the industrialized countries in the region, asserting that his company, in cooperation with the Ministry of Military Production, expects abundant possibilities ahead.

"We made fully armored vehicles in Egypt within the military production plants," he said, lauding Assar's great support for investors. Knight added that the priority goes to producing what Egypt imports before seeking to export, noting that imports cost Egypt annually about $60 billion.

"We make an Egyptian loader with the same efficiency as the American counterpart, and agreed with Geely to manufacture a 100 percent Egyptian car,” he revealed.

Also, Co-owner and Head of Trend Group, specialized in designing and executing trade sector projects, called for getting rid of “the white-man privilege” and using locally-manufactured products, clarifying that this is the best feature of South Africa.

“Egypt Can” is a series of conferences held annually with the aim of giving Egyptian expats the opportunity to present their visions of different fields of development, and their proposals to improve various sectors.

The Ministry of State for Immigration and Expatriates Affairs, and the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Reform organized this edition, which was announced earlier to adopt the investment and development theme.