Yehia Zaki — President of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) — participated in an annual meeting via video conference of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the bank's business forum, which was held yesterday in Morocco via video conference. The meeting highlighted Egypt's efforts to attract various investments in green fuel production and clean energy projects, especially those efforts made within the SCZone to attract international and leading companies working in the fields of clean and renewable energy to set up this type of project in the affiliated industrial zones. Zaki participated in a session titled 'Egypt: A Development Story Towards Green Economy' along with Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat — Egypt's representative at the EBRD — CEO of Scatec Terjee Belskog, and Dalia Wahba — Vice President of the Information Department and CEO of Hassan Allam Company. Heike Harmgart — Director-General of the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Region at the EBRD — moderated the discussion session on clean energy projects in Egypt and the successes that can be achieved if Egypt becomes a leading global centre in this sector. In his speech, Zaki presented the efforts made within the economic zone as an investment destination that provides many opportunities in the clean fuel and green hydrogen production sector, as the zone is a regional centre for maritime transport, logistics services, and industry and a gateway to the movement of trade between east and west. He also referred to various incentives to support investors, especially in the targeted industrial sectors, such as green hydrogen, as it is one of the main economic objectives of the zone. Several memoranda of understanding have been signed with international partners in the production of green fuel, and work is underway to study the full feasibility studies submitted by these companies as well as the work and production stages of the projects. Zaki added that the zone is also open to more investments in this promising field, and that work is being done to establish the first global centre for producing green hydrogen in Sokhna. In the same context, Belskog spoke about Egypt's ability to contribute globally in the field of green hydrogen and its ability to play the role of change maker, in addition to the support provided by the Egyptian government, which overcomes obstacles to investment and helps in facing any challenges, as Egypt is a country where investors can build partnerships. It is worth noting that the SCZone launched the second phase of technical cooperation with the EBRD last March. The second phase aims to implement an improvement programme and raise the level of performance for the one-stop-shop service provided by the economic zone to its investors.
