Egypt, China discuss opportunities of manufacturing electric cars

CAIRO – 12 September 2019: Egypt and China discussed cooperation opportunities in the field of manufacturing electric cars during the visit of Minister of Public Business Sector Hesham Tawfik to Beijing.

This came during Tawfik’s meeting with Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei, in the presence of Ambassador of Egypt to China Osama Al Mahjoub, Chairman of the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries Medhat Nafie, as well as the Egyptian and Chinese delegations.

The meeting discussed the opportunities of cooperation in the field of manufacturing electric vehicles through the revival of Al-Nasr and Engineering Automotive Industries companies, referring to their comparative and competitive advantages, most notably the infrastructure, equipment, licenses and distinctive brand, as well as the good condition of a number of their operational production lines and the distinguished geographical location.

Tawfik reviewed the most important investment incentives in Egypt in general and the most important visions of the State to stimulate the manufacture and use of electric cars in particular, stressing the Egyptian side's keenness to cooperate with China in this matter,referring to the fruitful meeting with the leaders of Dongfeng Motor Corporation, which was chaired by the Chinese minister before holding his ministerial post.

For his part, the Chinese minister welcomed the cooperation with the Egyptian side, and expressed his country's interest in the Belt and Road Initiative in light of Egypt's location.Wei also outlined the most important investment incentives, especially in the field of electric cars industry, and the importance of appropriate infrastructure to launch the experience of manufacturing and assembling various types of electric vehicles.

The Belt and Road Initiative was launched by the Chinese government to enhance trade, investments, and infrastructure in more than 150 countries in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The initiative is a revival to what was known as “The Silk Road”. Egypt is expected to take part in the initiative through the Suez Canal, as it will be the only maritime connection between Africa and Asia on the one hand and Europe on the other hand.

The chairman of the Holding Company for Metallurgical Industries presented a number of investment opportunities in subsidiaries, including companies working in the automotive and metallurgical industries,aluminum cans, ferroalloys, phosphate fertilizers, phosphoric acid, coal coking.Moreover, other projects have been promoted and received with great interest by the Chinese side.

Egypt has a number of free trade agreements that give the Chinese partners economic access to a number of markets that are not directly accessible from China.
On September 6, Egypt’s Minister of State for Military Production Mohamed el-Assar witnessed the signing ceremony of a MoU between the National Organization for Military Production and the Chinese Geely Company for manufacturing electric cars.

Meanwhile, General Manager of Brilliance Egypt and agent of Brilliance China Khalid Saad told Enterprise that Brilliance Auto intends to reassemble its cars in Egypt starting from the first quarter of 2020 with investments of $120 million, adding that the company will begin to temporarily manufacture in BMW assembly lines, which is the parent company of Brilliance, until a new plant is built.

Furthermore, Minister of Trade and Industry Amr Nassar held a meeting in July with the delegation of China's Dongfeng Motor Company, headed by Vice President of the company Li Zhengrong.

Nassar said that the company is seriously considering the production of electric cars in Egypt with the aim of using them for transportation purposes in government agencies and taxis, with the possibility of exporting these cars later to European marketsafter increasing the proportion of the local component and raising the value added.