Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli witnessed on Tuesday 30/8/2022 the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) and Stellantis, an Amsterdam-based automotive manufacturing corporation.

The MoU is meant to broaden the scope of cooperation between the government and the Amsterdam’s corporation within the upcoming phase.

The signing ceremony was attended by Trade and Industry Minister Ahmed Samir and Chairman of the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) Mokhtar Abdel Latif.

The MoU was signed by GAFI’s CEO Mohamed Abdel Wahab and Stellantis’ Chief Operating Officer (COO) in the Middle East & Africa Region Samir Cherfan.

On the sidelines of the signing ceremony, the GAFI’s CEO said that the MoU aims to broaden the scope of cooperation between the government, represented by the AOI, and the Amsterdam-based corporation.

The MoU also comes within the framework of the support provided by the auto industry strategy, which was recently launched by the government, to encourage the companies operating in this sector to pump more investments into the Egyptian market, he added.

Cherfan, for his part, said that the signed MoU aims to probe ways of pumping additional investments and increasing the production capacity of the Arab American Vehicles Company (AAV), which represents a successful model for the integration of national and foreign industrial investment for more than 45 years.

He also lauded the government’s keenness on enhancing the automotive sector, pointing out to the relentless efforts exerted by all the ministries, bodies concerned and the relevant business organizations and resulted in preparing the national strategy for the development of the automotive industry, which was launched by the prime minister during his visit to East Port Said Industrial Zone.

The volume of Egypt’s automotive industry, which currently stands at 1.1 million cars, is expected to surpass 5 million cars by 2035, he went on to say, adding that the national strategy for the development of the automotive industry will contribute to qualifying Egypt to be at the forefront of car exporting countries.

Stellantis has been operating in the Egyptian market for nearly fifty years, he further noted.

Stellantis has a high-end brand portfolio, including Peugeot, Chrysler, Opel, Citroën, Jeep, and more, he added.

Source: State Information Service Egypt