Veronafiere creates African construction hub in Cairo

Called Projex Africa, it was launched in the Egyptian capital on Wednesday by the Verona fairs organizer and two Egyptian partners: the Expolink association of Egyptian exporters and Art Line, an organizer of trade fairs and conferences.

The first step, billed as a mega event for the sector, is Projex Africa 2014, an international construction trade fair to take place in the Egyptian capital from December 11-14 along with a Cairo edition of two major Veronafiere expos: Marmomacc, the world's biggest salon dedicated to marble and stone; and Samoter, the third-largest global exhibition of earth movers and other construction equipment. What makes Cairo attractive is Egypt's potential as an export portal towards the rest of Africa and the Middle East thanks to its free-trade agreements with the European Union, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), signatories to the Pan-Arab Free Trade Agreement (PAFTA), and signatories to the Agadir Agreement of 2004, which include Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia as well as Egypt.

With its population of one billion, 40% of which lives in urban areas, and which is expected to double by 2050, Africa is also a huge potential market for new construction.

Currently importing $29 billion in construction materials (of which $590 million are imported by Egypt), the continent has a plethora of real estate and infrastructure projects in the works.