CAIRO, 19 February (BelTA) – Belarus may participate in the modernization of Egyptian enterprises, BelTA learned from Belarusian Minister of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Makei on the sidelines of presidential negotiations in Cairo on 19 February.
Vladimir Makei said: “Our partners have compiled a list of over 4,500 enterprises they would like to modernize. They would like us to also actively work with these enterprises.”
Belarusian Industry Minister Pavel Utyupin confirmed that the Egyptian side indeed has plans to modernize its enterprises. In his words, it is a good opportunity for the Belarusian machine tools industry. At the same time he noted that Belarusian companies will not be able to contribute to all the enterprises, but even helping modernize 10-15% of the total number of enterprises will be a good result.
Pavel Utyupin also said that the sides intend to increase the localization rate at joint enterprises in Egypt to 40-45%. It will allow promoting the resulting products onto third-country markets. It cannot be accomplished in one go but the enterprises already have the relevant plans.
Apart from that, Belarusian companies can now participate in a larger number of tenders in Egypt. “Unfortunately, equipment had to be made in specific countries as a mandatory requirement of some tenders in the past. Belarus was not one of the countries. This is why Belarus was unable to submit bids for the tenders and offer its products. The problem has been resolved now,” the industry minister stated.
