Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr and head of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish met with the Vietnamese prime minister, Nguyen Xuan Phuc, during their visit to Hanoi to discuss the investment opportunities in the Suez Canal.
The Vietnamese prime minister expressed his happiness with the visit, referring to the historical relations between Egypt and Vietnam, expressing the aspiration of the Vietnamese government to cooperate with its Egyptian counterpart in many sectors.
In the same context, Nasr said Egypt aspires to exchange Vietnamese and Egyptian experiences in many sectors, as well as opening up opportunities for Vietnamese investments and expertise to Egypt in the coming period, especially in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), pointing to the investment advantages enjoyed by Egypt governorates after the new investment law adoption including advantages and tax exemptions in the most needy areas, especially in Upper Egypt, pointing to the experience of successful economic reform which is implemented by the Egyptian government to stimulate foreign direct investment.
The head of the Suez Canal Authority expressed his aspiration to cooperate in the fields of shipbuilding, fish farming, medicine, and food industries. The two sides agreed to sign memorandums of understanding (MoUs) for cooperation in the fields of investment and stock exchange and to establish an Egyptian-Vietnamese business forum soon.
Earlier in December, Mohamed Magdy, head of fish farming at the Suez Canal Authority, presented a summary of the fish farming project in the eastern Suez Canal. He pointed out that the current fish production volume reached 1.4m tonnes. In contrast, local consumption reached 2.1m tonnes, which leads to a deficit of 700,000 tonnes per year.
Mamish presented the incentives and investment opportunities in the economic zone, referring to its genius place where its ports and economic zones are a global focal point in trade and maritime transport between Africa and Asia and among the countries of the world.
In another context, Nasr and Mamish met with Vietnamese Minister of Transportation Truong Quang Nghia. The two sides agreed to sign 3 MoUs between the SCZone and the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport for cooperation in the field of ports.
The Egyptian-Vietnamese Joint Committee has not been held since 2008. Currently, the work of this committee is being activated to achieve the desired results of the meeting, according to Nasr.
Before heading to Singapore, Nasr and Mamish visited the Singapore Investment Zone in Hanoi, where they listened to an explanation of Singapore’s experience in setting up investment zones outside the country.
