(Photo Cabinet Handout)
The Egyptian cabinet’s economic team announced the establishment of four working committees in order to eliminate the smuggling of goods and merchants.
The cabinet’s announcement came after Mehleb’s meeting with Minister of Transportation Ibrahim El-Demeiry, Minister of Foreign Trade, Industry and Investment Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, Minister of Finance Hany Kadry, Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Ashraf Al-Araby and the Minister of State for Local Development Adel Labib late Monday.
The first committee is the security system work group, which will set priorities and security measures to control and prevent smuggling. The work group will help tighten the security on border crossings and will be headed by the head of the Ports’ Security Authority, in coordination with the Egyptian armed forces.
The second committee is the legislative system working group. The committee will be responsible for setting and applying harsher penalties on smugglers. The committee’s president is the head of the Customs Authority.
Another committee will be responsible for developing the system for provinces and will be headed by the Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.
The fourth committee will offer services working groups which will attempt to meet the demand provinces needed to fight smuggling.
The working groups are responsible for the development of an emergency plan to prevent smuggling all over the country and particularly in the key areas of smuggling in Port Said and Sallum, an Egyptian village near the Mediterranean Sea and the country’s eastern border with Libya.
The committees are said to submit a report within one week. The report will include urgent measures to eliminate smuggling operations permanently. Following the submission of the report next week, an emergency meeting will be held to activate those measures.
