The new agreement was signed by the Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, Waleid Gamal Eldien, Chief Executive Officer of the Sovereign Fund of Egypt; Ayman Soliman, Vice President of the East Port-Said Development Company; Dr Ahmed Fikry and Chairperson and Managing Director of Volkswagen Group Africa (VWGA), Martina Biene in the presence of the Prime Minister of Egypt, Dr Mostafa Madbouly.
A prior agreement laid the groundwork for the collaborative endeavours aimed at deepening the localisation of the automotive industry in Egypt through a shared facility.
In June 2022, the Government of Egypt announced the introduction of the Automotive Industry Development Programme (AIDP), which aims to foster local value addition, increase vehicle production volume, boost and attract investment, and improve emission standards in the automotive sector.