Head of the Customs Division at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce Ahmed Abdel Wahed proposed a strategy to increase Egypt’s exports divided into two parts — a short-term plan and a long-term one.
Abdel Wahed said that the short-term plan represents in-kind support for exporters, such as reducing the cost of energy consumption and exempting them from toll fees on highways as long as the exporter holds an export receipt, which encourages exporters to reduce costs.
He also called on the government to pay attention to transit trade, conference tourism, and cancel concessions for factories.
Meanwhile, the long-term plan depends on including export materials in education curricula, along with establishing a special ministry for export.
In terms of transit trade, he said that it is a very profitable sector, adding that there are countries in the world that only have one or two ports — such as Singapore and the UAE — and make good use of the industry, noting that Egypt owns many ports as well and is the main gateway to enter the African market.
He also recommended that the cost of being registered as an exporter be reduced to EGP 1,000 to encourage young people to break into the export industry.
Furthermore, he highlighted the need to reconsider some decisions and laws, including minimising bureaucracy in factories to encourage tourists to buy their products immediately and ship them quickly.
Additionally, Abdel Wahed called for reducing energy expenses from Egyptian ports, exempting or reducing fees for handling containers and guards in ports, abolishing the power of attorney in real estate registration offices for customs dealers, the return of the bank authorisation system to ease customs procedures, establishing special units for Murabaha to help smaller exporters, and exempting transport vehicles from road tolls.
