Government keen on supporting industry complexes, SMEs: Trade minister

The government is keen on giving a boost to all industry complexes nationwide as they involve many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that represent the larger slice of the Egyptian economy, Minister of Trade, Industry, and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour said.

The minister said that his ministry has an ambitious plan to develop all existing industry complexes and build new ones. “We will start a new plastic industry complex in Morghom district, Alexandria,” he added.

These complexes will focus on making use of local materials to produce high-quality products at competitive prices so that they can compete in the foreign markets, the minister said. Such a project will bring in more revenues, help young people start their own businesses and will provide more job opportunities.

Abdel Nour made those statements during his visit to Damietta Governorate where he launched the industry complex programme to support SMEs. The programme, which has been outlined by the Industrial Modernization Center (IMC) and the National Bank of Egypt, aims at easing credit measures to finance current businesses run by owners of furniture workshops in Damietta.

The minister was accompanied by Damietta Governor Mohamed Abdel-Latif, the IMC’s Chief Executive Ahmed Taha and Head of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Financing Department at the National Bank of Egypt Soha Suliman.