Egypt's Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced that his ministry plans to offer 10m square metres of land in Sadat, 10th of Ramadan, and Borg El Arab cities, and to complete the establishment of the first three industrial parks which have small industries licenses in Sadat, Badr and South Raswa in Port Said areas. The new industrial parks are scheduled to be completed by September and October. He added, in a statement issued Saturday, that the ministry plans to continue its efforts in offering more industrial lands to meet the needs of the industrial investment movement in 2017. Kabil said that 2017 will be a turning point for the trade and industry sectors, expecting a surge in domestic and foreign investment as well as an increase in production and exports. The next year will also witness the opening of a number of specialised industrial clusters, including new tanneries in Rubeiky city, furniture factories in Damietta and a plastics city in Margham, Alexandria. Kabil pointed out that the ministry will launch its industrial investments map in 2017, which includes investment opportunities and competitive advantages for each province separately. The ministry will also complete the development and rehabilitation of six industrial zones in Sohag and Qena, in the framework of the development of the industrial zones program in Upper Egypt funded by the World Bank. The parliament is expected to approve the new laws regulating industrial licensing as well as the automotive industry strategy and the One Person Company (OPC) law. The new year will also witness the launch of the new authority regulating small- to medium-sized enterprises and the national Food Safety Authority. In regards to the ministry's plan for the development of the foreign trade sector in 2017, Kabil said that the ministry aims to increase export rates by 10% in various export sectors.
