The head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) witnessed the foundation stone laying ceremony for the Indian Flex-Egypt factory, which specializes in the production of polyethylene (PET), at the industrial zone in Sokhna within the scope of the industrial developer Orascom for Industrial Zones, with investments amounting to $110m. The project is located on an area 250,000 square metres with a production capacity of 30,000 tonnes per month. It will be implemented in two phases over the next two years. The first phase will start in mid-2024 and provide more than 700 direct and indirect job opportunities. The second phase will be implemented in mid-2025. The inauguration took place in the presence of Walid Youssef, Vice President of the Authority for the Southern Region, Ibrahim Abdel Khalek, Vice President of the Authority for Investment, and Mohamed Ibrahim, Assistant Chairman of the Authority, along with Amr El Batrek, CEO of Orascom Industrial Zones, the officials of the Indian company and the staff of the Indian embassy in Egypt. After the inauguration of the project, the head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone expressed his happiness at the presence of Indian investments in the industrial zone in Sokhna, and the presence of the Flex factory within the industrial developer Orascom for Industrial Zones, as Flex is one of the largest Indian companies working in this field, as part of the company's plan to expand in Egypt to create a center It has a strategic strategy in the region to cover the Egyptian domestic market and export to the Middle East, as the economic zone is the ideal destination that enables investors to access foreign markets and expand within the Egyptian domestic market through investment incentives that support this trend, stressing that there are promising prospects for cooperation between the Suez Canal Economic Zone And Indian investments in various fields enjoy common interest from both sides, pointing out that a delegation from the authority is preparing to conduct a promotional tour in India to discuss ways of joint cooperation and attract more Indian investments in Egypt within the Suez Canal Economic Zone. He called on the Indian side to accelerate the pace of work in construction, as was done in the negotiations between all parties regarding presence and investment within the economic zone, referring to the consultations that took place late last year, which were held between representatives of the Indian company and the industrial developer Orascom and the Suez Canal Economic Zone last September at the Authority's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, in which it was agreed to start construction work in the first half of 2023, so that the project will enter into force in 2024. In the same context, Sanjay Tiko, Executive Director of Flex Egypt, welcomed the presence of the Chairperson of the Authority and the accompanying delegation to launch the project in the region, where he gave a presentation on the company's business in Egypt and the markets that the company targets for exporting its products from within the economic zone, in addition to the company's business within some European countries and its spread in the markets of the United States of America, Russia, and Mexico. He also explained the expansion work carried out by the company, especially that it has investments in the industrial zone in 6th of October City and is working on new expansions in Egypt, pointing to the start of the construction stages of the project during the coming months to officially open the factory. It is worth noting that Orascom Industrial Zones, one of the industrial developers and development partners in the economic zone, is working to attract various investments within the industrial zone, to localize the industry. During 2021, the industrial developer succeeded in attracting 11 companies with a total investment of more than EGP 42m, and in 2022 it was able to attract 12 investors with total investments estimated at EGP 94.3m, and in the first quarter of this year, it attracted 6 companies with a total investment of more than EGP 240m, in addition to providing job opportunities in these projects for Egyptian youth, across several sectors, including textiles, food packaging, medicines, medical supplies and cosmetics, mechanical control systems, electrical panels and supplies, manufacturing plastic pipes, PET, PVC, ready-mixed concrete, manufactured stones and mineral raw materials, in addition to the opening of the first green hydrogen production plant last November. In conjunction with the climate summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh.
