Dubai: Egypt's industrialists said they will not lay off any worker in the industrial sector, which includes 70,000 industrial facilities, and to pay the wages of all workers no matter what the circumstances.

This came in a meeting the chairman and members of the board of the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), which represents all the industrial sectors in Egypt, held with Trade and Industry Minister Dr. Samiha Fawzy on Tuesday.

The industrialists pledged that Egyptian factories will return to full production capacity as soon as possible. They said they are committed to all their local and foreign contracts to import products from the various sectors, the federation said in a statement to Gulf News yesterday.

The Egyptian industrialists also appealed to the current government and the media to maintain confidence in the industrialists and to send strong messages to society explaining that the industrial sector in Egypt is one of the largest job creating sectors.

They noted that about 8 million Egyptian families rely on this sector for gainful employment.

They called on everyone not to tarnish the reputations of the honourable industrialists so that local and foreign confidence in this sector will not be shaken.

They expressed thanks and appreciation to former Trade and Industry Minister Engineer Rashid Mohammad Rashid for his efforts to develop Egyptian industry.

They said they need confidence at home and abroad in the industrial sector so that industrial investments may not be negatively affected.

Crisis discussion

Fawzy said the meeting was one in a series of interactions with industry and trade leaders to discuss the situation of Egyptian industry during this crisis and the measures and facilities needed to ensure that the industrial sectors will continue to operate at their highest possible capacity.

Proposals: Regaining pace

Al Zorba submitted a number of proposals to the government to help the industry regain normal production rates. These include:

  • Speeding up government repayment of factories' dues and postponing collection of government dues from factories to ensure enough liquidity.
  • Tightening customs controls to prevent smuggled goods.
  • Accelerating the launch of government projects under consideration to revive the local market.
  • The need for the banking system to facilitate the funding of goods and raw materials.