Egypt reviews work of QIZ unit, studies offering assets for rent

CAIRO – 23 June 2020: The Ministerial Economic Committee in Egypt reviewed the results of the work of a committee studying the proposals of the Qualifying Industrial Zone (QIZ) Agreement unit to double the exports of eligible industrial zones.

The meetings were held in this framework to work to solve any obstacles that may face investors in those areas.

“The committee also study the processing of unexploited assets of closed factories of the Ministry of Public Business Sector in the areas within the geographical limits that are presented within the state's restructuring plan, and offering for rent under the usufruct system for "QIZ" areas,” it added in a statement.

The Egyptian Ministerial Committee stated that it is developing a plan to develop the leather products industry, especially shoes, because Egypt has a comparative advantage in it, in addition to training labor for the industries targeted to attract them, which contributes to providing trained labor to benefit those industries, which is reflected in the production rates.

Manager of QIZ unit at Ministry of Trade Ashraf Rabei said earlier that Egypt ranked no 20 on the list of countries exporting ready-made clothes and textiles to the US with total exports of $ 1 billion, including $987 million under QIZ.

Egypt signed QIZ agreement with Israel and the United States in December 2004, allowing Egyptian products to enter American markets with no tariffs, provided that Israeli components represent 11.7 percent of these products.

In October 2017, Egypt signed a new agreement with Israel, including a modification of the QIZ deal, reducing the percentage of Israeli components in Egyptian products to 10.5 percent.