New Delhi, Oct 17 : Citing the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) as a major investment opportunity for Indian companies, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Friday said that the transcontinental nation is encouraging to have an Indian industrial zone alongside the Gulf of Suez, north-west of the Red Sea.

"We have a special industrial zone for China in this region, and for Russia. We are also encouraging to have an Indian industrial zone alongside the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and we are providing all kinds of facilitations, all kinds of incentives to the Indian companies. Don't forget the fact that we have a huge market," Abdelatty said during an interaction with a select group of journalists in New Delhi.

Abdelatty, who is on his first visit to India as a Foreign Minister, held the First India-Egypt Strategic Dialogue alongside External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday evening.

Cairo has been pitching the development axis of the Suez Canal region, which includes a number of industrial and logistical zones, as a major investment opportunity for Indian companies.

"Of course, part of my discussions here was encouraging more Indian companies to come to invest in Egypt. I met with CEOs of six to 10 companies yesterday, and I will continue meeting others today because we value Indian investment in Egypt, we value the trade volume between Egypt and India," said the Egyptian Foreign Minister who also called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.

"It's not only the Egyptian market, even the Egyptian market is 120 million people, 110 million Egyptians and 10 million refugees living in Egypt. It's a huge market. And don't forget the fact that we have an FTA arrangement with a lot of blocs, including the Africa Continental Free Trade Agreement, the Arab Free Trade Agreement, the Association Agreement between Egypt and the European Union," he added.

The SCZONE is located around the main international maritime route of the Suez Canal passageway, which connects Europe, East and North Africa via the Suez Canal with Asia passing through the Arabian Gulf serving the majority of global trade.

The visiting minister spotlighted that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has instructed the government to provide all conducive environment, all facilitations to Indian companies to do business, not only in traditional sectors such as chemicals, pharmaceuticals, minerals - especially phosphate and fertilizers - but also new sectors like digitalization, application of artificial intelligence, renewable energy, as well as clean energy.

"We have companies in India very interested in investing in producing green ammonia and green hydrogen because Europe, which is very close to Egypt, they are targeting the importation of 10 million tonnes every year of green ammonia and green hydrogen. The role of India is important, and as you know, we extended the invitation," he said.

Egypt has been aiming to make SCZONE as one of the main logistics hubs in the region. However, the Israel-Hamas conflict since October 2023 severely dented the proposed plans.

"Connectivity is extremely important, and of course, Egypt is in the heart of any connectivity programmes or projects in light of our strategic location, in light of the Suez Canal and in light of the Special Economic Zone in the Suez Canal... We cannot ignore that, so we are part of any connectivity projects linking East with the West, linking the Mediterranean with Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia, Gulf countries, and we are open for, of course, joining any projects of connectivity," said Abdelatty.

He added: IMEC (India'Middle East'Europe Economic Corridor) is an important project again, but we have to understand that what happened over the last two years, that if you have escalation, that could hinder the cooperation, the regional connectivity. So what we are seeing that it's important to have a conducive environment for such projects to evolve. And, we discussed the IMEC with our Indian friends. We are, of course, in favour of all projects of connectivity, because Egypt is a hub, Egypt is a strategic location, and can be, of course, part of all connectivity projects."

/IANS