Egypt’s General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) has signed a tripartite memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Damietta Governorate and Italy’s Finestra Alliance to establish the country’s 10th public freezone in the governorate.

In a first, the new public freezone would be developed and maintained by the private entity, Finestra Alliance, according to GAFI’s press statement. 

The MOU was signed by Manal Awad, Governor of Damietta; Hossam Haiba, CEO of GAFI, and Pasquale Russo, Managing Director of Finestra Egypt.

The statement said Damietta Governorate will allocate a 183-acre plot of land near the international coastal road, and parallel to the Mediterranean Sea to establish the free zone, which would be the second public free zone in the governorate. 

It would comprise of 220 units dedicated to manufacturing, storage and offices, with the flexibility of merging units, according to a presentation made by the spokesperson of the Italian alliance.

The project would be developed in four phases, and target investments from the Middle East and Italy.

Egypt currently includes nine public free zones in the cities of Alexandria, Cairo, Port Said, Suez, Ismailia, Damietta, Shebin El-Koum, and Qeft, in addition to the media zone in 6th of October City.

(Writing by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)