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

Today, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, the Prime Minister, held a meeting to review the proposed measures to facilitate the registration and entry of international brands into the Egyptian market, in the attendance of Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development and Minister of Health and Population, Eng. Hassan Al-Khatib, Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade, Dr. Ali El-Ghamrawy, Chairman of the Egyptian Drug Authority, Major General Essam El-Naggar, Chairman of the General Organization for Export and Import Control, Mr. Ahmed Amawy, Head of the Customs Authority, Mr. Essam Omar, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank, Mr. Hossam El-Garhy, Vice Chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities, and officials from a number of concerned authorities, with the participation of a number of major investors in the tourism sector.

At the beginning of the meeting, the Prime Minister affirmed the state's great interest in supporting the tourism sector by providing various necessary pillars for boosting, developing and advancing this important sector. He indicated that this meeting aims to review the results of the efforts of the working group formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development, to discuss the most important challenges facing the entry of international brands into the Egyptian market, and to formulate proposed procedures, in light of the demands received from some investors in the tourism sector, regarding overcoming the challenges of the entry of international goods and brands into the Egyptian market, which is a source of attraction and interest for foreign tourists.

The Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development went over the most prominent outcomes of the working group meetings formed under his chairmanship, with the membership of officials from relevant ministries and entities for mulling over this file. The group reviewed the most prominent challenges facing the registration and entry of global brands into the Egyptian market, along with listing the proposed measures to overcome each challenge, as well as providing an explanation of the various dimensions of implementing each proposed measure.

Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar also presented the most important recommendations reached through the working group's role, and the entities responsible for implementing each recommendation. These recommendations included searching ways of activating the retail model for global brands, in light of the many successful experiences of a number of global companies in Egypt and several international markets, as this represents an added value to the Egyptian economy and strongly resonates with residents and tourists in all countries where companies operating in this trade are present. 

Counselor Mohamed El-Homosany, the Cabinet's official spokesman, stated that within the framework of reviewing the proposed measures to facilitate the registration and entry of international brands into the Egyptian market, several proposals were made to alleviate the burdens of tax and customs on these brands. These include activating the tax rebate system for tourists at major airports through a specialized system, in addition to promoting the efforts made by the Egyptian state to facilitate customs release procedures and the entry of brands into the Egyptian market, along with establishing a unified electronic platform to extract all necessary approvals for registering international brands and determining the necessary requirements.

On their part, tourism investors, during the meeting, indicated their agreement with the challenges highlighted by the Deputy Prime Minister for Human Development, particularly regarding customs release procedures. They emphasized the importance of overcoming these obstacles to help support purchasing tourism as aspired.

Investors also suggested considering establishing a number of outlet centers for international brands, which would help attract citizens and tourists to these centers, support the tourism sector, along with reducing Egyptian citizens' purchases in hard currency from abroad.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the Prime Minister directed to develop a comprehensive vision using an implementing mechanism to overcome the various challenges facing the entry of global brands. He also noted the possibility of the proposed measures including a whitelist of these brands to facilitate the customs release process, as a part of any other agreed-upon measures.