Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, held a meeting to review the challenges facing the iron and steel industry in Egypt and the mechanisms and steps to develop it. The meeting was attended by Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel El-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development and Minister of Industry and Transport; Dr. Sherif Farouk, Minister of Supply and Internal Trade; Mr. Hossam Heiba, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones; and a number of ministry officials and chairmen of iron and steel companies.
At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister indicated that today’s meeting aims to discuss and review the challenges facing the iron and steel industry in Egypt and address several mechanisms and proposals that would contribute to supporting this important strategic industry, maximizing our capabilities and potential in this regard. This meeting will contribute to localizing and deepening the industries feeding the iron and steel industry to alleviate pressure on foreign exchange.
The Prime Minister emphasized Egypt’s commitment to making it a regional hub for the iron and steel industry by enhancing competitiveness in many global markets and expanding into industries where the country possesses a comparative advantage and specialized production and technological capabilities.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly highlighted the government’s ongoing efforts to support the industrial sector and provide further incentives and facilitations to attract more investment to this promising sector, which the state relies on to achieve many economic and social goals. He noted that the iron and steel industry receives great attention from His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, given its importance and the contributions of its products to numerous development, service, and industrial sectors.
Counselor Mohamed El-Homsany, the official spokesperson for the Cabinet, stated that the meeting addressed a number of challenges and obstacles presented by the chairmen of the boards of directors of iron and steel companies and iron and steel manufacturers in Egypt. Several proposals and mechanisms were also reviewed that would contribute to boosting the growth rates of this industry and its feeder industries, achieving further desired economic and social goals.
The official spokesperson added: The meeting addressed efforts to meet the various needs of iron and steel manufacturers in terms of necessary materials and raw materials, in light of the integrated iron and steel industry system. This contributes to supporting the industrial value chain by enabling factories producing finished goods in the engineering and various industrial sectors to obtain their industrial requirements locally instead of importing them in hard currency, thus increasing export capacity.
Counselor Mohamed El-Homsany noted that the meeting also addressed the steps and measures taken to regularize the status of a number of violating factories, in accordance with applicable standards.
