President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi affirmed the importance of Egypt’s Soda Ash project for supporting self-sufficiency in local industries and reducing imports. Led by Taiwan’s TCC Group, a subsidiary of China National Chemical Engineering Co., Ltd. (CNCEC), in partnership with Egyptian entities, the project will be Egypt’s first integrated soda ash production complex, providing vital raw material for glass, detergents, paper, and fertilizer manufacturing–sectors that are currently almost entirely reliant on imports.
El-Sisi made his statement during a meeting with Mo Dingge, Chairman of CNCEC, in the presence of Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly: Karim Badawi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources; Wu Xiang gong, the Vice Chairman of the CNCEC Group and Chairman of TCC Company, in addition to Guo Guihe, CEO of TCC.
The president expressed confidence in TCC’s ability to execute the project with efficiency in accordance with the highest international standards. He also stressed the state’s willingness to facilitate the procedures for the project’s implementation.
Mo Dingge reviewed CNCEC’s expertise in the petrochemical sector and expressed the company’s aspiration to further expand its investments in Egypt . El-Sisi welcomed the company’s interest, underscoring the incentives and benefits Egypt offers to both foreign and local investors.
Egypt has been forging partnerships with China in the petrochemicals sector over the past period. In August, a delegation from the Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM) visited some of China’s industrial complexes. The visit involved discussions on potential technology transfer to Egypt and opportunities for industrial integration with key Egyptian sectors, such as automotive, cables, industrial textiles, and electronics.
Moreover, executives from ECHEM had recently met with their counterparts in TCC to fast-track the execution of key projects to produce soda ash, metallurgical silicon, and bioethanol, with an overall investment value of about $1 billion.
