Transportation Minister: No going back from localizing industries in Egypt

Transportation Minister, Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir emphasized that the decision to localize industry in Egypt is irreversible. This announcement was made during a session on the localization of the transportation industry, as part of the activities of the third day of the International Exhibition and Conference for Smart Transport, Infrastructure and Logistics for the Middle East and Africa TRANSMEA2023. Wazir further detailed that Egypt is focusing strongly on the transportation industries and their localization. Following President Sisi's clear directives, Egypt has committed to not importing buses from abroad, instead manufacturing them domestically in cooperation with international companies. As part of the current strategy, Egypt will no longer contract or import new vehicles for the railway, opting instead for local manufacturing. Wazir explained that other means of transportation, such as the metro, are contracted on the condition of partnership and localization of these industries within Egypt. A firm like SEMAF National has the capabilities to produce entire metro cars from unassembled black sheet metal and assemble it completely with components from inside and outside of Egypt, with factories also located in Europe. The Minister highlighted plans to manufacture train spark plugs with international companies in Egypt and anticipates the manufacture of wheels for wagons, in an attempt to nationalize all transportation industries in the country.