Damietta governorate, the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), and Italian Finastra signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding to establish the first public free zone under the private industrial developer system in the governorate, and the tenth nationwide. This comes within the framework of the efforts exerted to encourage foreign direct investment in the industrial sector and bring expertise to the Egyptian market for the purpose of export. According to the memorandum, Damietta will allocate a plot of land with an area of more than 183 feddan on the international coastal road, to establish a public free zone, while the Finastra Egypt alliance, which specializes in industrial development and infrastructure development, will play the role of the industrial developer, as it will establish, facilitate, develop and develop the area and carry out maintenance work to prepare the region to receive investment projects, the alliance will also promote and market projects in the region to ensure attracting investments from Italy and abroad, provided that the General Investment Authority manages and operates the public free zone in accordance with the investment law. Hossam Heiba, the executive president of GAFI, stressed that the authority will do its utmost to speed up the process of issuing licenses and approvals, in all stages of the project, starting from the stage of studying and contracting with consulting offices, passing through the stage of conciliation and construction of industrial and administrative units, up to the stage of managing the free zone and exporting its products to foreign markets, indicating that The new free zone will be environmentally friendly and will adhere to the highest national and international environmental standards. Heiba added that the authority will provide the Italian alliance with all necessary data, information and sectoral studies to help target projects with a high comparative advantage in the Egyptian economy. Manal Awad, the governor of Damietta, said that the memorandum of understanding aims to encourage and increase the flow of investment to the governorate, and contribute to achieving the goals of sustainable development, as a development plan will be put in place to develop the vicinity of the free zone, which has an area of 183 feddan, parallel to the Mediterranean Sea and the international coastal road, in order to improve its readiness to receive investment projects. Pasquale Russo said that the founders of the consortium will transfer their extensive experience in the infrastructure of the Egyptian business environment, and will also exploit their relations across the Mediterranean to attract huge industrial investments to the free zone. The Italian consortium presented a presentation on the future plan for the free zone, as it will be divided into 220 units dedicated to manufacturing, storage and administrative headquarters, with the flexibility of merging units. The zone will also be linked to Egyptian ports and the international coastal road. Russo added that the consortium will organize a number of events in Italy to promote investment in the public free zone, during the next year, with the launch of the first phase of the project, which is divided into four phases, each of which includes from 50 to 60 industrial units attached and ready for operation. Egypt currently includes nine public free zones in the cities of Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Damietta, Shebin El-Koum, and Qeft, in addition to the media zone in 6th of October City.
