AMMAN, JORDANÂ – Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain on Sunday announced the signing of 12 agreements and partnerships worth over US$2 billion for nine joint industrial projects.
The announcement came following a meeting of the Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development, which brings the four countries together.
Jordan Prime Minister Bisher Khasawneh attended the meeting and oversaw the signing of the agreements.
The projects are expected to generate 13,000 direct and indirect job opportunities and add US$1.6 billion to the GDPs of the four countries.
Sunday’s meeting, which is the third for the quartet cooperation vehicle, was chaired by Jordan Minister of Industry, Trade and Supply, and Minister of Labor Yousef Shamali with the participation of the Emirati Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Egyptian Minister of Industry and Commerce Ahmed Samir Saleh, and Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro.
Following the meeting, it was announced that the Emirati automotive company “M Glory Holding” would invest $550 million to set up three electric car integrated factories with production and assembly lines in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Jordan, and Egypt, with an initial three-year production target of 40,000 compact crossover vehicles.
Additionally, the Greater Amman Municipality and the Abu Dhabi Waste Management Company (Tadweer) signed a waste management agreement.
Emirates Global Aluminum (EGA) has committed $200 million to build a silicon metal plant in the UAE with an annual output of 55,000 tons.
Raw silica for the facility will be supplied by the Jordanian Manaseer Group, as per an agreement reached in this context.
The Manaseer Group also disclosed plans to invest $70 million in expanding Manaseer Magnesia, a subsidiary, to add two units for the production of calcium chloride and magnesium hydroxide, with a combined annual production capacity of 270,000 tons, for export to the United Arab Emirates.
The group entered into a contract with the EGA to buy the plant’s finished product as a raw material for the aluminum industry.
The production of calcium chloride is anticipated to begin in 2024, and that of magnesium hydroxide in the current year.
Jordanian company Itqan Pharma and the Bahraini Alpha Biotech have announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the transfer of technology and co-manufacturing.
The first and second phases of the project will cost a combined $174 million, with the money going toward the production of generic medicines, oncological pharmaceuticals, medical solutions, and other pharmaceutical products with an annual production capacity of 350 million tablets.
Emirati companies Global Pharma, Adcan Pharma and Itqan announced a partnership for technology transfer and manufacturing for the production of injections, aerosols, and inhalers.
The Jordanian company and the Egyptian Marcyrl Pharmaceutical Industries signed a memorandum of understanding for the transfer of technology for the production of biosimilars in Jordan, with a $10 million investment.
The project is expected to be finished and the products will be released in the fourth quarter of next year.
The Emirati fertilizer firm CFC Group also announced plans to invest $400 million in Egypt to set up a feed and chemicals industrial complex.
To ensure the smooth operation of the complex, an MoU was signed with the Arab Potash Company in Jordan to ensure a steady supply of potash, and with the Misr Phosphate Company to supply phosphate.
The Emirati Global Pharma and the Egyptian Nerhadou International have formed a technology transfer partnership.
In order to expand manufacturing and production, a technology transfer agreement was reached with two Jordanian businesses, Savvy Pharma and Triumpharma, as part of this partnership.
The two projects have a combined investment value of $60 million, and their combined production capacity is up to 5 million packages per year for all products.
By the end of 2023, the project is expected to be finished, and the products should be available.
An Egyptian chemical industries company announced a $500 million investment to produce sodium carbonate (soda ash), which is the primary raw material in numerous industries, including the glass and detergent industries, with an annual production capacity of 500,000 tons.
A memorandum of understanding was signed with the Emirates Float Glass LLC, owned by Dubai Investments, to purchase the final product.
A memorandum of understanding was signed with the Arab Organization for Industrialization in Egypt and the Jordan Design and Development Bureau (JODDB) as manufacturing partners, as well as one with Bahrain’s Gulf Aluminum Rolling Mill (GARMCO) to supply the required aluminum sheets for manufacturing.
The Bahraini Gulf Biotech Company also revealed plans to build a facility with a production capacity of 105 million doses per year and an investment of $103 million for the production of raw materials for vaccines.
Earlier this month, a technology transfer agreement was signed with the Egyptian Bio Generic Pharma.
Yousef Shamali opened the meetings by praising the partnership as a model of a coordinated Arab effort overseen by the highest political authorities in the four countries.
He also said that King Abdullah II had ordered the government to do everything in its power to speed up the initiative’s goals.
The agreement for industrial integration projects between the four countries, as well as the definition of the participatory framework that has started to bring businessmen together are among the most significant accomplishments to date, said the minister.
He said the investment law was created to increase the competitiveness of the Jordanian economy, and said that the Kingdom’s present and future economic policies lay the foundation for greater integration with Arab nations.
Shamali said the law strengthens the protection of investments and ensures that investors’ legally permitted activities are not interfered with, adopts transformation, streamlines processes, automates them, encourages innovation in projects, and creates the right conditions for project development and growth.
He said, “We are determined to turn the agreements in the partnership’s first phase into actual projects. The results of that have started to show up in a number of industries, including fertilizers, agricultural products, and pharmaceuticals.”
He added, “We are eager to step up our efforts to expand both horizontally and vertically in the real-world applications of our partnership.”
UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology Sultan Bin Ahmed Al Jaber said that his country places a priority on collaboration to achieve comprehensive and sustainable economic development and strengthen partnerships with the nations in the region.
He said the UAE aims to make the most of the partnership’s members’ tremendous potential to boost social development, accomplish economic and social objectives, and create a strong foundation for industrial cooperation that benefits all parties.
Egyptian Minister of Industry and Commerce Ahmed Samir Saleh said that his country is eager to increase collaboration with the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Bahrain to achieve Arab industrial integration.
This would help to bring economic relations between member states to new heights, which would ultimately benefit the people of all the brotherly countries, he said.
The minister pledged that his government would spare no effort in providing the resources necessary to make this partnership a success, and that they would move swiftly to put the various components of the partnership’s action plan into motion.
Bahraini Minister of Industry and Commerce Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro said that his nation had finished the necessary legislative processes to ratify the partnership statute.
On Saturday, the Executive Committee of the Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development met in Amman to finalize their recommendations and report before submitting them to the Partnership’s Higher Committee for approval.
The committee will keep looking for fresh potential projects, assessing and approving those that are already in the works, and examining the viability of undertaking projects like the construction of a fertilizer plant in Jordan, which is projected to cost around $800 million.
The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, hosted the Higher Committee for Integrated Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development’s first meeting, while Cairo, Egypt, hosted the committee’s second meeting.