Minister of Supply Khaled Hanafy signed an agreement on Sunday with the president of the Sudanese businessmen union Saud Albrair for Sudanese investment in a Damietta-based logistics project. A statement from the Ministry of Supply detailed that the agreement involves the storing and handling of more than a million tonnes of wheat, grain, and sugar per year. The agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 16th conference of Arab businessmen and investors that was held on Sunday in Cairo. According to Hanafy, this is the first official agreement for investment and cooperation in the logistics project signed with another country. Speaking in a meeting with a group of technicians, consultants and legal experts, Hanafy said that weekly reports regarding technical steps that are being taken to establish the logistics project are regularly sent to the presidency and the cabinet to keep them updated. Hanafy said that the national federation of industries made a number of offers to invest in the logistics project. The federation aims to participate through establishing a number of silos for storing grain commodities. Hanafy expressed his full support to national industries that want to take part in the project. He also mentioned that lots of other offers from several countries and international companies have been received by the ministry. The interested countries include; Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia, China, Canada, Slovenia, Iraq, and the US. The global logistics project aims to transform Egypt into a global logistics hub for securing food commodities for the country and for exporting to other countries in the region. The establishment of the project will take two years and the government hopes it will bring major economic benefits for the country and could create thousands of jobs in Egypt.
