Tarek Kabil, Minister of Trade and Industry, has stressed the ministry’s keenness to organize the industry of marble and set necessary mechanisms and rules to control the conditions of non-official facilities in the sector and merge them with the official sector, which helps develop the industry, increase the value of products, and improve their ability to penetrate foreign markets. This was discussed during the minister’s meeting with members of the quarries division in the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), in the presence of Ahmed Abdel Hameed, head of the Building Materials Chamber, and Raouf George, head of the mining committee in the Export Council for Building Materials.
The minister said that his ministry is seeking to set rules to attract unlicensed establishments to join the official system in order to enable the ministry to offer them technical help and improve the quality of their products.
Kabil explained that the ministry supports all the industries that seek to improve and enhance their products with the goal of increasing productivity and export rates through several studies that examine the opportunities available before each sector.
He also stressed the importance of legalizing and reviewing all the procedures related to exporting marble materials in order to enhance the reputation of Egyptian marble in foreign markets, as well as manufacture the raw material to increase the products’ added value.
For his part, Abdel Hameed said that organizing the industry of marble is a great step towards maximizing benefit from it, while George stressed the importance of reviewing the EGP 400 fees on exporting marble blocks in order to maintain the presence of Egyptian products abroad.
Sayed Abaza, head of Sheq El Tebaam Investors Association, said it is important to find a mechanism to allow Egyptian companies to take part in foreign exhibitions. He praised the efforts of the Ministry of Trade and Industry throughout the past phase, whether in terms of exporting or supporting companies in exhibitions, as well as the studies carried out in the sector by the ministry as part of its development strategy until 2020.
