4 Arab countries, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain, and the UAE, signed 12 agreements in 9 integrated industrial projects with an investment value of more than $ 2 billion in the sectors of agriculture, pharmaceuticals, metals, chemicals, and electric cars.
These agreements are the outcome of the “Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development”, which was launched for the first time in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi in May 2022, with the participation of the UAE, Egypt, and Jordan, while Bahrain joined the second meeting of the Supreme Committee for Partnership in the Egyptian capital Cairo in July 2022.
The partnership aims to achieve five objectives: developing world-class competitive industries, ensuring the security and resilience of supply chains, developing sustainability, supporting the growth and integration of value chains, and promoting value-added manufacturing sectors.
The signing of the agreements came during the meetings of the Higher Committee in Jordan on Sunday, in the presence of Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, Ahmed Samir Saleh, Minister of Trade and Industry in Egypt, Yousef Al-Shamali, Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply and Minister of Labor in Jordan, and Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce in Bahrain.
Read: UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain to sign multi-million dollar industrial agreements
The meetings shed light on the latest developments of the partnership, the stages that have been completed, and the projects that have been agreed upon, in addition to perceptions about the projects of the next phase of the partnership.
The meetings reviewed the most important findings of the workshops on the targeted sectors, industrial investment opportunities, priority projects in the targeted sectors, and the most prominent aspirations during the coming period in order to develop this partnership and enter it into new stages.
These projects are expected to contribute to increasing the GDP of the partner countries by more than $1.6 billion and creating about 13,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Among these agreements, several companies have announced investments to build electric vehicles as part of the move to reduce emissions. Emirati automaker M Glory Holding has announced a $550 million investment to establish three integrated electric vehicle factories with specialized production and assembly lines in the UAE, Jordan, and Egypt, with a production capacity of 40,000 crossover components in the first three years.
The Egyptian company “Soda for Chemical Industries” announced an investment of $500 million to produce sodium carbonate “soda ash”, which represents the raw material in many industries, the most important of which is the manufacture of glass and detergents, with a production capacity of 500 thousand tons per year. A memorandum of understanding for a strategic partnership was signed with Emirates Float Glass Company, owned by Dubai Investments, to purchase the final product.
A project by UAE-owned CFC Feed and Chemicals to build a $400 million industrial complex for feed and chemicals in Egypt has also been announced, according to a Trade Ministry statement.
The agreements also included EGA’s announcement to invest $200 million to build a 55,000-tons-per-annum metal silicon plant and supply production to Jordan’s Manaseer Group.
Bahrain’s Alpha Biotech announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding for the transfer of technology, knowledge, and contract manufacturing with Itqan Pharma, a Jordanian company for the manufacture of general preparations, oncology preparations, and medical solutions, with a production capacity of 350 million pills annually with a total investment value of $174 million.
The next meeting
The Bahraini capital will witness the fourth meeting of the Supreme Committee for Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development, where more joint projects will be discussed.
The first meeting was held in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi, where they discussed accelerating the pace of industrial integration opportunities with economic feasibility, and enhancing cooperation and integration by involving more sectors, with a focus on 5 sectors, including agriculture, food, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals, textiles, metals, and petrochemicals.
The second meeting of the committee was held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, which witnessed the announcement of the Kingdom of Bahrain’s accession to the integrated industrial partnership, and 87 proposals for projects in the targeted sectors and initial projects eligible for implementation in the first phase were reviewed.
Quadrilateral Partnership
The integrated industrial partnership for sustainable economic development added contributions to the industrial value added of the Middle East from $106.26 billion to $ 112.56 billion, representing 30 percent of the industrial value added in the Middle East. By joining the partnership, Bahrain adds $2.3 billion in the value of iron ores that can be used in industrial development in the four countries. Bahrain has a strong industrial sector with more than 9,500 industrial companies, 55,000 industrial employees and $4.3 billion in specific FDI for the industrial sector.
The contribution of the industrial sector to the GDP of the four countries is about 30 percent of the contribution of the industrial sector in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2019, the total value of its industrial exports reached $65 billion, while the total population in these countries is 122 million, representing 27 percent of the population of the Middle East and North Africa, including 49 percent of the youth under the age of 24, which constitutes a key pillar for achieving Arab industrial integration that achieves sustainable development and prosperity.
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