Poland to establish industrial zone in Egyptian SCZone

The Egyptian Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and its Polish counterpart in Katowice on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish a Polish industrial zone in Ain Sokhna.

Trade and Industry Minister Nevine Gamea attended the signing, which will see the Polish industrial zone established in the SCZone.

The agreement was signed by the chairman of SCZone, Yehia Zaki, and Janusz Michalek, chairman of the Katowice Special Economic Zone. It took place in the presence of: Polish Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Paweł Jabłoński; Grzegorz Piechowiak, Minister of State for Economic Development; the Polish Ambassador to Cairo Michał Łabenda; and about 50 Polish officials and businessmen.

The agreement aims to establish a Polish economic zone in Ain Sokhna covering an area of ​​400 to 1,000,000 m², with a focus on the food, electronics and auto parts industries.

The Polish delegation accompanied 18 Polish companies to inspect the industrial zone of Ain Sokhna, in order to determine the industries best suited to the region.

Gamea said the project is an important step to support and develop economic relations between Egypt and Poland. This in a way that reflects the strength and durability of bilateral Egyptian-Polish relations at all levels.

She noted that the project will become the first industrial zone of a European Union (EU) country in Egypt. It will help to open new horizons for intra-regional trade and joint investments between the two countries, and will transfer the great Polish industrial expertise to national industry.

This is particularly the case in the fields of information technology (IT), machinery and equipment, railways, transport and communications.

Gamea has indicated his ministry’s concern to make this project a success by providing it with all the necessary facilities, in cooperation with SCZone.

The Minister stressed that the Ain Sokhna region is located at the heart of the SCZone and enjoys a unique strategic location at regional and global level. It also offers Egyptian products great opportunities to access many international markets with which Egypt has concluded free trade agreements.

In addition, the zone represents a strong window for these markets, in particular the markets of Arab countries and African countries.

She added that a number of future cooperation initiatives between Egypt and Poland are currently under discussion. These include a focus on the areas of fishing, the conversion of vehicles to natural gas and the cooperation between the Egyptian Stock Exchange (EGX) and the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

These discussions will result in concrete cooperation projects that will serve the interests of the Egyptian and Polish economies.

Gamea highlighted the recent great development in the movement of trade between the two countries, as the total volume of trade between the two countries has doubled, reaching $ 672 million in 2019.