Turkish companies Vestel, a home and professional appliance manufacturer, and Zorlu, a multinational holding company, are planning to establish a home appliances factory in Egypt with over $70 million investment for the first phase.
Minister of Trade and Industry Ahmed Samir announced the news after meeting with officials from the two companies as well as other Turkish entities on Saturday 05/08/2023 as he concluded his multi-day visit to Ankara, the first by an Egyptian trade minister in a decade.
Samir invited Vestel and Zorlu officials to visit Egypt during the coming period to finalise the studies required to establish the factory.
Samir revealed that Turkish Milat Carpet and Berdan Civata, Turkish fastening-components manufacturer, are willing to explore investment opportunities in Egypt.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s largest state-owned bank Ziraat Bank is considering opening a representative office in Egypt to prepare the ground for the establishment of a branch in the country in coordination with the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), Samir added.
On Friday, Samir also met with representatives of Koç Holding, which plans to establish factories for automotive industries and pharmaceuticals.
The company, the largest Turkish investment group, also plans to cooperate with the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) in renewable energy, wind, and yacht marinas and also with the Arab Organization for Industrialization (AOI) to manufacture furnaces, Samir added.
Koç Holding already pumped huge investments into the Egyptian market recently, including through the establishment of a factory for electrical appliances with a $110 million investment, the company’s representatives said in the meeting.
The factory will start production early next year and aims to export 60 percent of the output to foreign markets, they added.
Last week, Samir met with Turkish Minister of Industry and Technology Mehmet Fatih Kacir, where they proposed signing an MoU to address issues of industrial cooperation between the two states.
They also proposed the establishment of a working group comprising officials from both ministries to integrate the economies of both countries.
During his visit, Samir stressed the Egyptian government’s keenness to provide all possible support to Turkish companies operating or planning to operate in the Egyptian market in the near future.
A total of 790 Turkish companies operate in Egypt with Turkish investments in Egypt amounting to $2.5 billion in addition to $400 million in investments that were added in 2020, according to recent data by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry.
Turkish investments are concentrated in the fields of medical industries, furniture, cosmetics, food industries, chemicals, and engineering industries.
Trade exchange between Egypt and Turkey totaled $7 billion in 2022 and investments, the ministry said.
Egypt plans to increase the volume of bilateral trade with Turkey to $15 billion over the next five years, said Samir last week.
Source: State Information Service Egypt
