The Chairman of the General Authority for Industrial Development, Engineer Mohamed Abdel-Karim, held a meeting with Ahmed Rizk, the Acting Director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) office in Egypt, to discuss joint cooperation aimed at enhancing the competitive capabilities of the industrial sector and making Egypt a regional center for manufacturing. They also discussed ways to enhance industrial development efforts in Egypt through the support of international organizations, research, and academia.

Abdel-Karim praised UNIDO's role in supporting comprehensive and sustainable industrial development in Egypt, especially in areas related to industrial policies. He emphasized that updating industrial development policies is a top priority for the state as it would make a qualitative leap for the Egyptian industry, based on cooperation between Egypt and the organization.

He also expressed the Authority's interest in identifying the academic and research side of industrial policies, represented by Egyptian universities, as they are of great importance in the analytical aspect.

These efforts aim to support industrial localization programs, work to prepare Egypt as a regional center for a number of industries, and enhance the competitive ability of Egyptian products in local and global markets.

Industrial development policies are based on creating an attractive industrial investment climate and working to provide more facilities to encourage investment and achieve sustainable development and a shift towards a green economy. In this context, the Authority plans to establish the first green industrial zone relying solely on clean energy and localizing high-value-added industries, while recycling all waste in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainability and environmental protection.

The Chairman of the Authority highlighted that the plan will focus on developing specialized industrial cities such as "Shak El Thoaban" city for marble and granite production, to become a model industrial city for the manufacturing and exporting of marble. They are also considering studying the establishment of an industrial complex for the production of electric vehicles in Egypt, as part of the efforts to localize industries with high added value.

He also emphasized the importance of ongoing work towards developing an industrial roadmap through the establishment of a joint working unit between Egypt and UNIDO.

This unit aims to determine the necessary industrial policies, define and coordinate the representatives of the Egyptian side of the concerned parties, and to address the problems facing industrial investment by accelerating the implementation of the content of the State Partnership Program PCP signed between UNIDO and the Egyptian side in 2021.

Priority will be given to a number of vital industrial sectors such as electronics, furniture, leather, and food. It was added that next June will witness the holding of the conference for sustainable industrial zones, which will include training on industrial city planning. The conference will also promote investment opportunities in industrial zones in Egypt.