MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/. Egypt has ratified the intergovernmental agreement on creating the Russian industrial zone around the Suez Canal this January, while the project’s stages are planned to be finalized in May, Russia’s State Secretary - Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Roman Chekushov told reporters.
"Egypt ratified the agreement this January when we received the legal grounds for holding talks on particular stages of implementation of the project. This was basically the goal of my visit to discuss the way we will be working considering all intergovernmental documents adopted. We discussed a lot of details with partners, and there is an understanding how the project may be [implemented]," he said.
Currently it is necessary to obtain the Russian government’s consent of the concept that was discussed with Egyptian partners, as well as to reveal the interest of Russian companies for locating their own facilities there in general, the official added.
"They (the Egyptian partners - TASS) currently expect us to define details within three months as we agreed, or now even less than 2.5 months to be precise, as the Russian-Egyptian intergovernmental commission will be held in May in Moscow, so that the phased plans of creating the zone will be finalized during the visit of the Egyptian delegation to Moscow," he said.
In March 2023, Russia and Egypt signed a protocol on amending the agreement on the Russian industrial zone that will enable resident companies to sell products made on the territory of the Russian industrial zone on the Egyptian market. The press service of the Russian Industry and Trade Ministry said then that the construction of facilities on the territory of the Russian industrial zone would start in 2024. In October 2023, the ministry also said that the state support of the project on the Russian industrial zone in Egypt would continue, with around 9.5 bln rubles worth of federal budget funds planned to be allocated for the project by 2026.
The intergovernmental agreement between Russia and Egypt was signed in 2018. The project is stipulated to last thirteen years. Construction of the industrial zone was set to start in 2020 but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.