Madbouly: President of the Republic gave instructions to quickly grant the "Golden License" for projects, especially in the industrial sector
The government will not allow any complications in the procedures … and the files of production, operation and industry are “national security” and will not be allowed to be impeded
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, chaired today the meeting of the Supreme Committee concerned with assessing the applications of investors who desire to obtain the "Golden License", in the presence of Dr. Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Environment, Dr. Assem El Gazzar, Minister of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities, and Major General/ Hisham Amna, Minister of Local Development, Engineer Ahmed Samir, Minister of Trade and Industry, Counselor Mohamed Abdel Wahhab, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI), Dr. Walid Abbas, Vice President of the New Urban Communities Authority for the Planning and Projects Sector, officials of ministries and concerned authorities.
The Prime Minister said that the meeting comes within the framework of following up the implementation of instructions of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, regarding expediting the issuance of the "Golden License" for projects applying for it, especially for industrial projects, in light of the state's efforts to support the industrial sector.
It should be noted that the Supreme Committee concerned with assessing the applications of investors who desire to obtain the "Golden License" was formed pursuant to Prime Minister's Decree No. 425 of 2023, issued last month. This committee is concerned with unifying and simplifying the procedures of obtaining a comprehensive approval (the Golden License), and overcoming various obstacles facing investment projects that are required to obtain this approval. The Decree also stipulates that the Supreme Committee will have a Technical Secretariat, which is the "permanent unit in the Council of Ministers to solve investors' problems."
Ambassador Nader Saad, the official spokesman of the Council of Ministers, said: The Committee approved eight investment projects that applied to obtain the "Golden License" to be presented to the Council of Ministers at its next session, among the twelve projects that were reviewed during the meeting, in a number of different sectors.
"Saad" added that it was approved to grant the "Golden License" for projects as follows: the establishment of an industrial complex for electrical appliances for “Haier Egypt Limited Company”, a project to establish a plant for the production of feed, chemicals and plant nutrients belonging to the “CFC Fertilizers” Company under the Private Free Zones framework, establishing and operation of a factory for the production and assembly of manufactured and semi-manufactured household, electrical and visual appliances and their components for “El-Araby Group”, “Misr Green Hydrogen Company” project to produce "green hydrogen" from a 100-megawatt production plant in the Ain Sukhna industrial zone, which is affiliated to the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE).
The projects that were granted the "Golden License" also include "Egypt Green Ammonia" plant for the production of green ammonia with a capacity of one million tons / year in the Ain Sukhna Industrial Zone affiliated to SCZONE, the project of "Yazaki - Egypt for Electrical Distribution Systems" under the Private Free Zones framework to manufacture electrical distribution systems for cars of all kinds, the project of “SE Wiring Systems Egypt” to manufacture the electrical wiring systems for cars and vehicles of all kinds
and the "Vaccines and Biotechnology City" project, whereby a factory is established and operated to manufacture and package vaccines, human and veterinary serums of all kinds, biological preparations, diagnostics, biotechnology and their requirements.
In terms of the measures taken to put the Golden License into action, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly elaborated on his Decree No. 2300/2022 Amending Article (42) of the Executive Regulations of Investment Law No. 72 of 2017 describing it as a practical demonstration on the facilitation of the requirements set for obtaining the Golden License. In a similar context, PM also made a reference to Council of Ministers Decree No. 56/2022 Setting out the Terms and Conditions for classifying any Investment Project as Strategic or National in the application of the provision of Article (20) of the Investment Law.
During the meeting, PM explained the procedures for issuing the Golden License, as they contribute to expediting the licensing process and starting business operations. He pointed out that there are clear directives from H.E El Sisi to facilitate the procedures, stressing that the Government will not allow any complications in the procedures, that production, employment, and industry files are considered national security files, and that no one will be allowed to obstruct these files.
Moreover, Dr. Madbouly announced that an office will be dedicated to receiving applications by companies that would like to obtain the Golden License. These applications will be presented regularly to the Technical Secretariat of the Supreme Committee of the Council of Ministers, which will refer them to the Supreme Committee to make a decision in their regard, PM added. To make the process even easier, an electronic platform will be created to receive said applications, PM stated.
In a related context, Engineer Ahmed Samir, Minister of Trade and Industry, said: “We launched a website affiliated to the Ministry giving access to various services electronically.”
On another level, GAFI CEO said that a comprehensive guide has been prepared in Arabic and English encompassing all data and information about the Golden License. This guide was published on the Invest in Egypt website. All representatives of the business community including export councils; business associations; joint business councils; Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce; and Federation of Egyptian Industries were briefed via letters on the Golden License and the facilitations introduced to the process of obtaining it.
GAFI CEO added that printed copies of the Golden License Guide, in both Arabic and English as well as the Investment Incentives Guide were sent to all representatives of the business community including export councils; business associations; joint business councils; Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce; and Federation of Egyptian Industries. Such entities were requested to circulate the copies on their affiliated companies operating in Egypt as well as on foreign embassies in Egypt, together with the Egyptian embassies and commercial representation offices abroad.
