Arab Republic of Egypt Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade General Organization for Export and Import Control

The Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade discussed with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) delegation to Egypt and the Middle East, the commencement of the GOEIC's integrated project for risk management and tracking system for controlling industrial and non-food goods.

Engineer Hassan El Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, held expanded meeting with Ms. Jinyoung Kim, Head of (KOICA) in Egypt and Middle East, and her accompanying delegation. The meeting reviewed KOICA's project for implementing a Comprehensive and Integrated Digital Risk Management Platform submitted by the General Organization for Export and Import Control.

The Minister highly praised the Korean government's subsidy for implementing this project, which will contribute to activate the system for controlling imports of industrial goods, even market surveillance, in line with what is implemented in developed countries.

Al-Khatib said that this project comes within the framework of implementing the state's vision for ports governance, accelerating, simplifying, and reducing the cost and time of conformity assessment procedures for goods at ports, with the aim of reducing release time to achieve global standards, while tightening control over the circulation, import, and export of poor-quality goods, and in implementation of Egypt's international obligations under the World Trade Organization's Trade Facilitation Agreement on "Implementing Integrated Risk Management Systems in Cross-Border Trade."

The project will be implemented over a period of time starting from June 2025 until the end of 2029, during which several components will be implemented, including creation and operation of the digital system for Risk-Based Inspection System for non-food industrial goods (e-RBI) at the GOEIC, creation and operation of the GOEIC's laboratories digital information management system (LIMS), in addition to creation and operation of the digital tracking and tracing system and creation of the Digital Product Passport (DPP) for industrial goods in the local market.

The meeting reviewed the proposed components and implementation phases for activating the import control system for industrial and non-food goods, including creating and linking information management systems with tracking and controlling local markets, information exchange, and rapid alerts, within the framework of trade facilitation based on risk management at borders and within the local market.

The meeting also addressed the relationships associated with these components and the impact of digital governance on tracking and accelerating information exchange at all stages of controlling and trading industrial and non-food goods, starting with border control procedures including tracking procedures within the market monitoring system and establishing the Digital Product Passport (DPP) system for locally manufactured Egyptian products with the aim of enhancing Egyptian exports' access to international markets.

The first phase of the project will begin next June, following the signing a cooperation agreement (ROD) between the two countries. The agreement includes the provision of equipment, software design, and the supply of digital devices for the full implementation of the system, utilizing the latest artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analysis applications in this field, whereas South Korea is among the most advanced countries in the world in implementing this system.

The meeting included a presentation by experts on the project's objectives, components, and its implementation timeline, in cooperation between the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the GOEIC. 

It is worth noting that the GOEIC is hosting a delegation of experts from the (KOICA) to implement the GOEIC's Integrated Risk Management Project, titled "Establishing a Digital Platform for Risk-Based Inspection and Tracking to Facilitate Trade in Egypt," from March 9 to 20, 2025.