The Ministry of Industry aims to expand the scope of leading Egyptian companies and enhance African cooperation

In light of the trend towards enhancing local production and increasing exports, leading Egyptian companies are emerging as one of the important drivers for developing industrial sectors and raising their ability to compete in foreign markets, especially in areas where Egypt has a production base and accumulated expertise, such as the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. The expansion of these sectors is gaining economic importance because of the opportunities it provides to increase the added value of products, develop supply chains, and open new areas for investment and manufacturing.

In this context, the Ministry of Industry is moving towards supporting the growth of companies and enhancing their production and export capabilities, by deepening local manufacturing and expanding investment partnerships, in a way that supports the presence of… Egyptian products in foreign markets. These trends come within the framework of efforts to develop the national industry and take advantage of the opportunities available to leading Egyptian companies to expand their business and enhance their contribution to economic growth.

Expanding the scope of leading Egyptian companies

To embody this vision, Eng. Khaled Hashem, Minister of Industry, participated in the opening of the forum activities organized by the International Cooperation Committee in the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt in cooperation with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) under the title “Expanding the scope of leading Egyptian companies in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries sectors: Trade, industrialization, and regional expansion.”

With the participation of Mr. Omar Muhanna, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, Mrs. Olorant Doherty, Director of Export Development at the African Export-Import Bank, and Dr. Ahmed Maghawry, Assistant Minister of Industry for International Cooperation, along with representatives of leading Egyptian companies, government agencies, financial institutions, and industrial sector partners.

At the beginning of his speech during the forum activities, the minister expressed his thanks to the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt and the African Export-Import Bank for organizing this event, which brings together business leaders and policy makers from various parts of the continent, pointing out that this event gains special importance in light of the radical transformations taking place in the global economy, driven by geopolitical developments, technological transformation, and the restructuring of global supply chains.

Strengthening industrial capabilities and expanding regional trade

The minister said that this Developments pose challenges to the African continent and create opportunities at the same time. It allows strengthening industrial capabilities, expanding regional trade, attracting investments, and achieving greater integration into global value chains, which is confirmed by the “African Trade Report” issued by the African Export-Import Bank for the year 2026, which confirms the acceleration of GDP growth in Africa to reach 4.5% in 2025, and the total trade in goods reached about 1.5 trillion dollars, pointing out that intra-African trade amounted to about 214 billion dollars in 2025, recording Growing by 5.5% compared to the previous year, Egypt accounted for approximately 4.4% of total intra-African trade, which is equivalent to about $9.3 billion.

African Continental Free Trade Area

represents the Continental Free Trade Area African is one of the most important tools available on the continent to achieve this potential, and it requires strengthening productive capabilities, building competitive industries, developing effective logistical services, providing reliable financing, and providing products that meet the needs and standards of African markets, pointing to the necessity of shifting from exporting raw materials and importing finished products, to building integrated African value chains that ensure the survival of a greater amount of economic value within the continent, which highlights the necessity of concerted efforts between industrial policies, private investments, and development financing.

Increasing exports and localizing industry

The Ministry of Industry is pursuing a comprehensive approach that focuses on increasing industrial exports, attracting investments, deepening local manufacturing, and integrating Egyptian industry into regional and global value chains. One of the core elements of this approach is Attracting investments that bring technology, industrial expertise, and high-value-added production, strengthening partnerships with the private sector, and expanding the base of small and medium enterprises, pointing out that the strategy identified five industrial groups, including 7 industries targeted for integration into global supply chains, most notably the food and pharmaceutical industries.

The minister pointed out that the ministry’s approach is based on strengthening Egypt’s industrial capabilities and advancing integration with African industries and markets, through developing competitive production systems, increasing the local component, strengthening supplier networks, and investing in future technologies and skills. Small and medium enterprises are also another essential pillar of the strategy. The Ministry aims to expand the base of these projects, enhance their capabilities, and connect small manufacturers with major industrial companies and supply chains.

This approach integrates with the eighth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, concerned with decent work and economic growth, and the ninth goal, related to industry, innovation, and infrastructure, by supporting the growth of small and medium enterprises, deepening local manufacturing, and developing productive capabilities, in a way that enhances the competitiveness of Egyptian industry and supports production-based economic growth.

Enhancing cooperation between Egypt and African countries

Agricultural industries and pharmaceuticals are among the promising sectors for cooperation between Egypt and African countries. Both sectors have strategic importance in the process of Africa’s economic transformation, and they have also been classified among the priority regional value chains within the framework of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), as Africa possesses enormous agricultural resources and great production potential; It also opens up scope expansion Agro-processing and value addition to products offer broad prospects for strengthening regional supply chains.

Within the framework of the industry strategy, the Ministry aims to support the establishment of agricultural industrial clusters that work to add value to agricultural products, expand food manufacturing operations, and encourage investments in cold chain infrastructure and logistics services. Partnerships between Egyptian and African companies in the field of agricultural manufacturing can contribute to reducing post-harvest losses and retaining a larger portion of the added value within African economies.

Cooperation between companies, government agencies and financial institutions enhances the chances of achieving the seventeenth goal of the Sustainable Development Goals, which is concerned with establishing partnerships to achieve the goals, through mobilizing investments, exchanging experiences, and developing industrial projects based on common interests.

In conclusion, the topics of this forum reveal that expanding the work of leading Egyptian companies in the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries sectors is linked to the industry’s ability to move from simply increasing production to building integrated systems for manufacturing, supplying and exporting, based on deepening the local component, developing technology, raising the efficiency of logistical services, and enhancing the role of small and medium enterprises. The importance of this trend increases when economic cooperation turns into productive partnerships that distribute roles according to available capabilities, allow for maximizing the added value of resources, and expanding the scope of benefiting from markets and investments.

From this standpoint, The Earth Guards Foundation believes that the real development impact of industrial expansion is measured by the sustainable value it leaves within the economy, starting from developing production capabilities and transferring knowledge, all the way to improving the efficiency of use. Resources, reducing waste and opening broader horizons for economic growth.