Ashraf AboArafe
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Prime Minister, held a meeting this evening at the government headquarters in the New Administrative Capital with Mr. Wang Jijun, Chairman of China National Tire & Rubber Co., Ltd., the largest Chinese company specialized in manufacturing tires for heavy and private vehicles, engineering equipment, and others, and Mr. Sun Ding, Vice Chairman of China National Tire Company, in the presence of Lieutenant General/Eng. Kamel El-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development, Minister of Industry and Transport, and Mr. Hossam Heiba, CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.
The meeting was also attended by a delegation from “Prometon Tire Egypt”, a wholly owned subsidiary of China National Tire Company. The delegation included Mr. Omar Mehanna, Chairman of “Prometon Tire Egypt”, and Mr. Yun Lian, Vice Chairman of “Prometon Tire Company”.
The Prime Minister began the meeting by welcoming the Chairman of the Chinese National Tire Company and the accompanying delegation of officials from “Promiton Tire Egypt”, noting that the company already has an existing activity in the Egyptian market, where it manufactures tires for heavy transport vehicles, while the Chinese company seeks to carry out further expansions in Egypt during the coming period.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly said: The government attaches great importance to the car tire industry, as it is one of the most important strategic industries for the Egyptian market; due to the increasing local demand for tire products, stressing his welcome and support for all companies wishing to work in this important field, whether by pumping new investments or expanding their existing investments.
The Prime Minister added that “Promiton Tire Egypt”, which is fully owned by the Chinese National Tire Company, owns a factory in Ameria, Alexandria Governorate, to produce tires for heavy transport vehicles. The production capacity of this factory is about 1.1 million tires, and 70% of its production is exported abroad. The factory also provides two thousand job opportunities.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly expressed his aspiration for the company to begin expanding its activity in the Egyptian market to include the manufacture of passenger car tires, noting that there were meetings between the company and the Egyptian government represented by the Ministries of Industry, Investment and the Public Business Sector, regarding the establishment of a new factory to produce passenger car tires.
In turn, Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel El-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development, Minister of Industry and Transport, welcomed the delegation of the Chinese company, explaining that “Promiton Tire Egypt” produces between 1.1 million and 1.2 million tires for heavy transport vehicles and engineering equipment.
He added: We agreed during a lengthy meeting with officials of the Chinese company to provide the company with a new plot of land on an area of 180 thousand square meters, next to the company’s factory in Ameria, to establish the activity of manufacturing passenger car tires, and we also agreed with the company to expand its business in order to double its current production of heavy transport tires; which contributes to covering the local demand in full and directing the remaining percentage to export.
The Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development confirmed that all the necessary data had been provided to the company to help it study the project, saying: I stressed to the company’s chairman the importance of not prolonging the study of the two projects.
During the meeting, Mr. Wang Jijun, Chairman of the China National Tire Corporation, thanked the Prime Minister for meeting the company’s delegation, in addition to the meetings that took place today between the company’s officials and the Ministers of Industry, Investment and the Public Business Sector.
Mr. Wang Jijun said that Lieutenant General Engineer Kamel El-Wazir, Deputy Prime Minister for Industrial Development, Minister of Industry and Transport, was keen during his meeting with the company’s delegation today to provide all the necessary data on the tire industry and the size of demand for it, whether for heavy or private vehicles, and the Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade provided us with sufficient information about the size of the investment market in Egypt and the incentives granted by the Egyptian state for investments in various sectors.
He added: Based on the information we obtained, our desire to expand our activities in the Egyptian market has increased.
He continued: Our position is very positive towards studying the establishment of a new factory for manufacturing tires for private cars on a plot of land with an area of 180 thousand square meters next to our current factory in Ameria.
He explained that the company’s upcoming investment plan in Egypt is scheduled to be in two phases; the first will double the production capacity of the existing heavy transport tire factory, while the second phase will include establishing a passenger car tire manufacturing activity on the adjacent land with an area of 180 thousand square meters.
In this regard, Mr. Wang Jijun said: We will work hard to accelerate the implementation of our upcoming investment plan in Egypt, adding: After our meeting with the Prime Minister, our confidence in the Egyptian market has increased.
Meanwhile, Mr. Omar Mahna, Chairman of “Promiton Tires Egypt”, explained that the company owns the Alexandria Tire Factory in Ameria with a total area of 300 thousand square meters and a production capacity of about 1.1 million tires for heavy transport vehicles during 2024.
At the end of the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed that the Egyptian government is keen to provide various possible forms of support that ensure the implementation of the company’s upcoming investments in Egypt, whether the project to double the production capacity of heavy transport tires or establish a passenger car tire factory, in light of the increasing market demand for these important products that are imported
