The Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) has announced that its head Walid Gamal El-Din and an accompanying delegation travelled to Japan to meet representatives of major Japanese companies operating in various industrial sectors. This comes within the framework of the promotional tours by the Suez Canal Economic Zone, which began in some European countries and then Japan upon the invitation of the Japanese Ambassador in Cairo to present the investment opportunities of the Economic Zone to Tokyo investors. During the first days of the promotional tour, Gamal El-Din held a joint meeting with the Japanese company AGC Group Inc., which operates in several industrial sectors, most notably the automotive glass industries and various electronic applications such as screens, optical chips, quartz products, semiconductors and architectural glass works, as well as the industries of chemicals, ceramics, logistics and others. It is one of the companies that exports its products to foreign markets. The two parties discussed the possibility of the company's presence in the economic zone and the establishment of projects that enjoy the advantages and incentives of the region, including the integration of ports with the affiliated industrial zones and the ease of movement of goods to and from the region and foreign markets, especially European ones that are easily accessible from the ports overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and the Asian markets from the ports overlooking the Red Sea passing through Suez Canal. The head of the economic zone also presented the available investment opportunities in the fields of specialization for the company, most notably the automobile industry, electronics, modern building materials and chemicals needed for the manufacture of active materials for the pharmaceutical industry. For his part, Hiroaki Sano, General Manager of the company, presented its locations around the world and announced its plan to work on studying investment opportunities in the region due to the company's need to provide some supply chains for the industries that make up the company's products and the possibility of manufacturing in light of the availability of the necessary infrastructure, needs and raw materials on which these industries depend. On the other hand, he met with the head of SCZone, on the first days of his Japanese tour, with representatives of Location Mind and ArkEdge space companies, which specialize in dealing with huge data of people through multi-layered processors, predicting the flow of people based on artificial intelligence, as well as analyzing data of vehicles, cars, ships, etc. Gamal El-Din also met with representatives of the Japanese Mitsui Group of companies operating in various industrial sectors, most notably the infrastructure and minerals sectors. The meeting included three axes for discussion on joint cooperation between the two sides, represented in the possibility of direct investments flowing to the Mitsui & Partners Group within the region through studying the formation of an alliance led by Mitsui Corporation with the aim of building, managing and operating seawater desalination plants. The meeting also included a discussion of the study of entry into the fields of manufacturing supply chains for the industrial sectors feeding the green fuel sector in Egypt, including, for example, the manufacture of equipment for seawater desalination plants. In this context, the head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone invited the company's representatives to visit the economic zone soon and get acquainted with the infrastructure and facilities implemented by the zone with international standards to serve investors in its industrial zones, which the Egyptian state is interested in providing, as well as the road network and facilities to improve the business climate and attract various investments. After those joint meetings with Japanese companies, a panel discussion was organized by the Economic and Commercial Office of the Egyptian Embassy in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, to review investment opportunities for Japanese companies in the economic zone. The meeting was co-organized by the United Nations Industrial Development, Investment and Technology Organization – Tokyo Promotion Office (UNIDO-ITPO), the Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME), and the Japan Institute for Overseas Investment (JOI) as sponsor, and the panel discussion was moderated by Kayoko Seki of the Japan Cooperation Center. The panel discussion dealt with a presentation of the investment opportunities for Japanese companies in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, especially in light of the investment incentives offered by the region to the success partners of companies, developers and operators operating within its realm, including Japanese companies such as Saraya Company, which specializes in the manufacture of cosmetics from natural plants, Toyota Tsusho is one of the companies within the global alliance that has the concession to operate the Ro-Ro station in East Port Said. During his speech, the head of the economic zone reviewed prospects for cooperation with the Japanese side of investors and business owners. Mohamed Abu Bakr, Egypt's ambassador to Japan, emphasized the successes achieved by the Egyptian economy over the past few years, as well as the successes achieved in managing the repercussions of the Coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian war, thanks to the economic reform that Egypt recently implemented. Following the speeches of the speakers in the panel discussion, which witnessed the participation of more than 100 representatives of major companies, business institutions, investment funds and Japanese asset management, representatives of Japanese companies raised some inquiries regarding investment opportunities in the economic zone and the facilities provided, as well as the sectors in which investments can be pumped in a way that achieves the mutual benefit of both parties, which can strengthen the economic and trade relations between the two countries, in turn, the head of the economic zone answered these questions within the panel discussion.
