Egypt’s Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir met with a delegation from Mercedes-Benz Egypt on Saturday to discuss the company’s current and future projects in the Egyptian market.
The meeting also reviewed the company’s export opportunities in the regional and global markets.
Samir said that the ministry is keen to provide all aspects of support to global auto manufacturers to continue and expand in the Egyptian market in order to meet the needs of the local market and export to foreign markets.
He pointed out the importance of benefiting from the network of free and preferential trade agreements signed with a large number of countries and regional and global economic blocs.
Gerd Bitterlich, President and CEO of Mercedes-Benz Egypt, said that the company pays great attention to the continuation and expansion of the Egyptian market as one of the most important markets in the Middle East and Africa.
He also pointed to the company’s keenness to take advantage of the large investment opportunities and potentials available in the Egyptian market to enhance its production capabilities and meet the needs of the domestic market and exports to foreign markets.
The company’s delegation also praised the new administrative capital, which they said represents a great cultural and administrative transition and represents an important addition to the achievements made by the Egyptian state on its way towards the new republic.
The MoU was signed during Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly’s visit to Stuttgart, Germany, to discuss the possibility of setting up a plant in the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).
This came following the announcement that the company has settled a dispute with the Egyptian customs authority and is looking to resume operations in the country.
The dispute dated back to 2015, when Mercedes-Benz halted assembling its vehicles in Egypt. The company claimed that the customs authority had imposed unfair taxes on its imported parts, which made it uneconomical to continue production in the country.
The dispute led to Mercedes-Benz shutting down its Egyptian assembly line in mid-2015 amid foreign exchange shortages. The move came just as completely built-up cars (CBUs, or fully assembled imports) became more cost-competitive in Egypt amid falling tariffs on EU cars, which hit zero at the beginning of 2019.
