UAE, Egypt, Jordan, Bahrain sign 12 industrial deals worth $2 billion

DUBAI – Companies from the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and Bahrain have signed industrial agreement Investments worth more than $2 billion were made at the third high-level committee meeting of the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development held in Amman on Sunday.

The two sides signed 12 agreements covering nine industrial projects including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, metals, chemicals and electric vehicles, the government’s Jordanian news agency Petra reported.

Together, these agreements and projects are expected to create 13,000 jobs.

In addition, 35 new project proposals were submitted to the Executive Committee for future consideration. Selected from 100 private companies participating in the event workshop.

Jordan hosted this year’s event, and Prime Minister Bisher Al-Khasawneh attended the signing ceremony, along with the respective industry ministers of the four participating countries.

Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, President-elect of the UAE COP28 Climate Summit, commented on the benefits of these gatherings. In a statement to WAM, the UAE government news agency, Al-Jaber said: “This partnership is starting to yield tangible results. It represents a special model of industrial partnership between private sector companies. It is a testament to our dedication to achieve our goals. The collective ability to plan, integrate and advance.”

At the event, Ahmed Samir Saleh, Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Trade, outlined Egypt’s commitment as its economy reeled from high inflation. Cairo has pledged to reduce the role of state- and military-owned companies. “The economic crisis the world is currently going through demonstrates the need for industrial integration among Arab countries. It is clear that we must strengthen regional partnerships and include the private sector as a key partner in implementing sustainable development plans and helping the Arab region prosper , ” He said.

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1. Egypt’s Soda Chemical Industries announced a $500 million investment to produce sodium carbonate, or soda ash, a key raw material for several industries including glass and detergent manufacturing. The plant will have an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons.
2. A Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Partnership was signed with Emirates Flat Glass Company, a subsidiary of Dubai Investment Corporation, to purchase the final product.
3. UAE-based automaker M Glory Holding has launched a major $550 million manufacturing project. The project will establish three electric vehicle factories with specialized production and assembly lines in the UAE, Jordan and Egypt. It is expected to produce 40,000 units of the compact crossover SUV during its first three years of operation.
4. M Glory Holding signed MOUs with the Jordan Design and Development Agency and the Arab Organization for Industrialization in Egypt as manufacturing partners, and an MOU with Gulf Aluminum Rolling Mills in Bahrain for the supply of aluminum sheet.
5. The UAE-owned CFC Group has announced that it will invest US$400 million to establish a fertilizer and chemicals industrial park in Egypt. It has MOUs with Jordan-based Arab Potash and Egypt’s Misr Phosphate Company to supply raw materials. The industrial park will produce feed, potash and other chemicals.
6. UAE Universal Aluminum announced an investment of US$200 million to build a silicon metal plant in the UAE with an annual production capacity of 55,000 tons. The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Jordan’s Manaseer Group to supply the required crystalline silica.
7. Manaseer Group announced an investment of US$70 million to expand its magnesia plant in Jordan. After completion, the total production capacity of the plant will reach an annual output of 270,000 tons, and the products will be exported to the UAE. It will sell the product to Emirates Global Aluminum. Production is scheduled to begin in 2024.
8. UAE’s Globalpharma has entered into a partnership with Egypt’s Nerhadou to develop advanced technologies for the manufacture of medicines and supplements. An agreement was also signed to transfer the technology to two Jordanian companies: Savvy Pharma and Triumph. Both projects are due to start construction in 2023, with a total investment of US$60 million. The production capacity of each product will reach 5 million packs per year.
9. Jordanian pharmaceutical company Itqan Pharma has announced a technology transfer partnership and contract manufacturing agreement with Globalpharma and ADCAN Pharma to manufacture syringes, aerosols and inhalers.
10. Itqan Pharma has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Egypt’s Marcyrl to transfer technology for the manufacture of biosimilars in Jordan, with a total investment of $10 million, targeting a product launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
11. Bahrain-based Alpha Biotic signed two MoUs with Jordan’s Dar Al Dawa and Egypt’s EIPICO for knowledge and technology transfer and contract manufacturing for general products, oncology products, medical solutions and other pharmaceutical products. The project is divided into two phases with an investment of 174 million US dollars, and the annual production capacity is expected to reach 350 million grains.
12. Bahraini company Gulf Biotech announced that it plans to invest US$103 million to build a vaccine and other product raw material manufacturing plant with an annual production capacity of 105 doses. Earlier this month, it signed a technology transfer agreement with Egypt’s BioGeneric Pharma.

The fourth meeting of the Higher Council of the Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development will be held in Manama next year.

Last year, the annual event, held in Cairo, announced 12 projects worth $3.4 billion.