Tarek Kabil: "The strategy is based on developing industry, increasing exports, controlling imports, ensuring a stable, balanced growth and creating a business climate capable of supporting the national economy."
Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Kabil announced the Ministry's five-pillar strategy for enhancing industrial development and foreign trade until 2020, in accordance with all regional and international trends.
The strategy is based on developing industry, improving small, medium, as well as micro enterprises, increasing exports and controlling imports, Kabil said. It also rests on promoting innovation, conserving energy, enhancing technical and vocational education and creating a business climate capable of supporting the national economy and ensuring a stable, balanced growth, he added.
The Minister's announcement came during his speech at the conference held by the Ministry to unveil the new strategy, in the presence of representatives from the Federation of Egyptian Industries, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the International Labour Organization (ILO), as well as the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).
Kabil indicated that the strategy seeks to make industrial development the engine of sustainable economic development in Egypt, which would help meet domestic needs and boost exports, hence, make Egypt an active player in the global economy. "The strategy aims at enhancing industrial development and foreign trade until 2020 through a variety of mechanisms and action plans which would boost trade, industry and small –as well as medium sized- enterprises and raise industrial growth rates," he said.
The Minister made it clear that the general policies of the strategy depend on taking advantage of the available opportunities, overcoming the current challenges and capitalizing on the successful trade and industry policies adopted worldwide.
He pointed out that the first pillar of the strategy is “industrial development”. “The ministry eyes a gradual 8% industrial growth rate and a greater contribution by the industrial sector in the national GDP from 18% to 21% by 2020, through increasing private investments from the current EGP43bln to around EGP100bln,” Kabil noted.
To support the “industrial development,” he added, the ministry will undertake a raft of measures including reviewing the regulations for industrial lands and licensing, facilitating procedures and focusing on import substitution industries and others supplying domestic demands, namely the recycling and packaging industries; chemicals; plastics; furniture; mining; engineering; leather and textile industries.
The second pillar of the strategy is transforming small, medium and entrepreneurial enterprises into a key instrument to increase industrial production, create more jobs and boost exports. “In Egypt, there are 2.5mln SMMEs employing 75% of the country’s total workforce, 17% of which export to foreign markets and 20% belong to the informal sector,” Kabil said.
As for the third pillar, he pointed out that it aims at boosting Egypt’s exports and narrowing its trade deficit, through increasing non-oil exports by 10% annually, up from $18.6bln in 2015 to over $30bln by 2020. It comprises the implementation of a range of programmes to develop import/export regulations, enhance Egypt’s export competitiveness, improve quality control, develop logistic transportation projects, enact international trade agreements, eliminate product access barriers and activate promotion programmes for Egyptian exports.
The fourth pillar concerns the overhaul of technical and vocational education and training “TVET”, aiming at providing skilled labour, technical and vocational know-how to improve product quality. It will be carried out through programmes enhancing the private sector’s involvement in the development of the TVET system, establishments, as well as trainers and educators.
Finally, the fifth pillar focuses on the governance and institutional development project, which aims at enhancing the performance of the Ministry’s institutions and implementing a comprehensive plan of communication with the main stakeholders to achieve the goals of the strategy.
The Trade Minister went on to explore the Ministry’s significant achievements over the past year, the key opportunities available and the major challenges facing the Egyptian economy, including the international economic crisis, low growth rates and falling oil prices; all affecting trade flows across the world.
Mr. Brender, for his part, lauded the new strategy adopted by the ministry. “The EU welcomes the new Strategy of the Ministry of Trade and Industry ... We will continue to provide support to the Ministry and its stakeholders for the implementation of this Strategy through our ongoing TDMEP cooperation programme as well as forthcoming support for development of small and medium enterprises,” he noted.