UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain companies sign industrial deals worth $2b
The projects will create 13,000 direct and indirect job opportunities
Amman: Companies from the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain signed industrial agreements with an investment value exceeding $ 2 billion at the third Higher Committee meeting of the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development.
The meeting included the signing of 12 agreements across 9 industrial projects. The projects are expected to create approximately 13,000 job opportunities and boost national GDP in the partnering countries by more than $1.6 billion.
The meeting kicked off in Amman on Sunday in the presence of Dr Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and the UAE’s special envoy for climate change, Ahmed Samir Saleh, Egyptian Minister of Industry and Trade of Egypt, Yousef Al Shamali, Jordanian Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, and Abdulla Adel Fakhro, Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce.
“This partnership is beginning to yield tangible results,” said Al Jaber. “It is testament to our collective ability to plan, integrate, and progress towards achieving our objectives, all while we are still at the beginning of this fruitful partnership.”
“We call on companies in our respective countries to enter these partnerships and put forward proposals for projects that benefit from the capabilities of our countries and from our competitive advantages, resources, and expertise,” he added.
The agreement spans sectors such as agriculture, pharma, food, petrochemicals, minerals and textiles.
Major agreements
The largest projects announced on Sunday was by the UAE-based automotive manufacturer M Glory Holding which announced the launch of a large manufacturing project with an investment of $550 million. The project will establish 3 electric vehicle factories with specialized production and assembly lines in the UAE, Jordan and Egypt. Production capacity will reach 40,000 compact crossover SUVs during the first three years of operation. M Glory Holding signed memoranda of understanding with the Jordan Design and Development Bureau and Egypt’s Arab Organization for Industrialization as manufacturing partners, and with Bahrain’s GARMCO to supply aluminum sheets.
The Egyptian company Soda Chemical Industries announced an investment of $500 million to produce sodium carbonate, ‘soda ash’, which is the main raw material in many industries, such as the glass and detergent sector. The facility will have a production capacity of 500,000 tons annually. A MoU was signed for a strategic partnership with the Emirates Flat Glass Company, owned by Dubai Investments, to purchase the final product.
Emirati investor-owned CFC Group announced it will invest $400 million to establish an industrial complex for fertilizers and chemicals in Egypt. It signed MoUs with Jordan-based Arab Potash and Egypt’s Misr Phosphate Company to supply raw materials. The industrial complex will have an annual production capacity of half-a-ton of fodder and potash fertilizers, and 1.1 tons of chemicals.
Emirates Global Aluminium announced a $200 million investment to establish a silicon metal plant in the UAE with a production capacity of 55,000 tons per year. The company signed a MoU with the Jordan’s Manaseer Group to supply the required crystalline silica.
Manaseer Group announced the expansion of a $70 million magnesium oxide plant in Jordan. Once completed, the plant will have a total production capacity of 270,000 tons annually, which will be exported to the UAE. It will sell its product to Emirates Global Aluminium. Production is set to commence in 2024.
The UAE’s Globalpharma entered a partnership with Egypt’s Nerhadou to develop advanced technology for the manufacturing of medicines and supplements. An agreement was also signed to transfer technology to two Jordanian companies – Savvy Pharma and Triumph. Both projects will commence in 2023 with a total investment value of $60 million. Production capacity will reach 5 million packages annually per product.