- February 22, 2025
- Posted by: Ahmed Abed
- Category: 2024, EN
Captain Ahmed Gamal, Vice Chairman of the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) for Southern Area Affairs, received Mr. Gerard Mestrallet, French envoy for the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), and his accompanying delegation, at the headquarters of SCZONE in Sokhna. This is to review the capabilities of SCZONE and to discuss means of cooperation within the “IMEC” economic corridor project, which aims to reduce logistics costs and enhance development opportunities in the areas covered by the corridor. The meeting was held in the presence of several executives of SCZONE, and several representatives from the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
*“SCZONE has 4 industrial zones and 6 seaports on the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea equipped with world-class infrastructure, in addition to the integration strategy between ports, industrial, and logistics zones, which provided a model to support supply chains and the movement of trade and industry. SCZONE also targeted 21 industrial and service sectors, as the industrial zones can accommodate various types of industries.” Dr. Mohamed Abdel Gawad, SCZONE’s vice chairman for Investment and Promotion Affairs explained.*
During the meeting, it was emphasized that SCZONE supports its investors through a set of financial and non-financial incentives, in addition to the ability of its strategic location to reduce transportation costs, besides the availability of various energy sources and trained human cadres at competitive prices. These factors have made SCZONE the ideal destination for international economic cooperation, evidenced by the success of cooperation with French investments in various industrial sectors, which exceeded $200 million, in addition to contracting to operate one of the terminals in Sokhna Port for a global alliance that includes one of the largest French companies.
*” SCZONE has diverse capabilities in addition to its distinguished location among Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, in addition to the importance of the integration between industrial zones and Seaports, the One-Stop-Shop service, SCZONE’s efforts towards green fuel industries, and the strategic location equipped with these capabilities ensures connectivity with all parts of the world and emphasizes Egypt’s crucial role within the various global trade routes. The “IMEC” will not be a competitor to SCZONE, due to the difference in capacity and its partial reliance on maritime transport and railways, which confirms the need to enhance cooperation with Egypt in this field.” Mr. Gerard Mestrallet stated.*
Following the meeting, Mr. Gerard Mestrallet and his accompanying delegation headed to a field visit to the Sokhna Integrated Industrial Zone, to visit the “Saint-Gobain Glass Factory”, which is one of the most important French investments Within SCZONE. The delegation explored a detailed explanation about the factory from Mr. Philippe Pilon, General Manager of Saint-Gobain Egypt Factory, who expressed that the distinguished location helped the company achieve its goals of reaching 76 countries within 16 years. He also stressed the availability of qualified Egyptian labor represented by Egyptians who are working within the factory with the latest technological techniques in this field.
The delegation also inspected the “Air Liquid” Alexandria factory for medical and industrial gases, within the scope of the industrial developer ” Suez Gulf Development Company”, and visited the “Egypt Green Hydrogen” Factory within the scope of the industrial developer “Orascom industrial parks”, in addition to inspecting SCZONE’s Sokhna Port, where a series of development is undergoing works to include 6 basins instead of two basins.
It is worth noting that the year 2024 witnessed a growing handling movement at Sokhna Port, reaching 732 various ships compared to 561 ships in 2023, with a growth rate of 30.48%, and a total trading of 20.3 million tons of achieved capacity compared to 20 million tons in 2023, with an increase rate of 0.21%, 917 thousand TEUs compared to 904 thousand TEUs during 2023, with a growth rate of 1.37%.
