GAFI hosts 1st Egyptian-Zambian Business Forum

CAIRO – 26 February 2025: The General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) hosted Tuesday the first Egyptian-Zambian Business Forum led by Chairman Hossam Heiba, Director General of the Zambia Agency for Development Albert Halwampa, and Chairman of the Egyptian-African Business Forum Yossri al-Sharqawi.

Heiba stated that the authority would present investment opportunities, and provide the Zambian government with the vocational training and organizational features needed to enhance the investment environment, especially in terms of facilitating paperwork and diversifying investment systems.

The GAFI chairman added that the government had been encouraging Egyptian business community to invest in Zambia and the African continent in general in a bid to create supply chains connecting raw materials with markets, leveraging the fact that Egypt is the largest recipient of investments on the continent.

The official stressed the necessity of benefiting from the AfCFTA through the creation of sustainable industrial collaboration, suggesting that Egyptian investors could enter Zambia's sectors of infrastructure, and energy.

The chairman of the Egyptian-African Business Forum stated that the forum would focus on exploring cooperation opportunities between large companies in each of Egypt and Zambia. Yet, there will also be some space for emerging firms.

There were meetings among Arab Contractors, El Sewedi Electric, Hassan Allam Holding, Orascom Constructions, Lusaka Telecom Solution, ZESCO Limited, Zambia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ZACCI), and Afreximbank to pave the way for establishing partnerships in the sectors of energy, ICT, and infrastructure.

By the end of the forum, the GAFI chairman took Zambian businessmen in a tour at the investors service center, which is a one-stop shop for finalizing all licenses. He also briefed them on land plots - connected with all utilities networks - available for investment, as well as on sectoral studies.

The two sides agreed on transferring Egyptian experience on digital transformation and the unified license to the Zambian government.  

The director general of the Zambia Agency for Development led a delegation on a field trip to the Nasr City Free Zone to get acquainted with the free zones operation mechanism and incentives offered to companies. Those are mainly export-oriented and connected with seaports.