The head of Egypt's Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish is set to sign a contract on Thursday with UAE-based DP World, one of the world's largest port operators, to set up a new a joint venture company to develop the planned economic zone near the Suez Canal, Al-Ahram daily reported on Thursday The partnership was first announced in August following talks between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, CEO of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayen and Mamish. The Suez Canal project includes the development of a 460 square-kilometer economic zone around the canal that the government says will be develop as an international industrial and logistics hub that will attract ships and generate foreign investment. President El-Sisi issued a decree establishing the zone in August 2015. Under the partnership, which will be signed in the UAE, DP World will carry out the development of 92,000 sq km in Ein Sokhna in Suez, at the southern end of the Suez Canal, Mamish was quoted by Ahram as saying The new company will be 51 percent owned by the General Authority of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which was founded in 2015 to administer and manage the development project, and 49 percent will be owned by DP World. The Suez Canal is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. It is one of Egypt's key sources of hard currency, bringing in about $5 billion a year.
