Industrial agreements exceeding $2 billion were signed in Amman, Jordan at the third Higher Committee meeting of Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development, a regional initiative for large projects involving the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain.

Twelve agreements across 9 industrial projects were signed between companies from the UAE, Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain, according to a press statement issued by the UAE’s Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology.

The Partnership also received 35 proposals for new projects, the statement said.

The 12 agreements are as follows:

  • Egyptian company Soda Chemical Industries announced an investment of $500 million to produce sodium carbonate, ‘soda ash’, which is the main raw material in many industries, such as the glass and detergent sector. The facility will have a production capacity of 500,000 tonnes annually. A MoU was signed for a strategic partnership with the Emirates Flat Glass Company, owned by Dubai Investments, to purchase the final product.
  • UAE-based automotive manufacturer M Glory Holding announced the launch of a large manufacturing project with an investment of $550 million. The project will establish three electric vehicle (EV) plants in the UAE, Jordan and Egypt. Production capacity will reach 40,000 compact crossover SUVs during the first three years of operation.
  • M Glory Holding signed memoranda of understanding with the Jordan Design and Development Bureau and Egypt's Arab Organisation for Industrialisation as manufacturing partners, and with Bahrain's GARMCO to supply aluminium sheets
  • Emirati investor-owned CFC Group announced it will invest $400 million to establish an industrial complex for fertilisers and chemicals in Egypt. It signed MoUs with Jordan-based Arab Potash and Egypt’s Misr Phosphate Company to supply raw materials. The industrial complex will have an annual production capacity of half-a-tonne of fodder and potash fertilisers, and 1.1 tonnes of chemicals.
  • Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) announced a $200 million investment to establish a silicon metal plant in the UAE with a production capacity of 55,000 tonnes per year. The company signed a MoU with the Jordan’s Manaseer Group to supply the required crystalline silica.
  • Manaseer Group announced the expansion of a $70 million magnesium oxide plant in Jordan with a total production capacity of 270,000 tonnes annually, which will be exported to the UAE. It will sell its product to Emirates Global Aluminium. Production is set to commence in 2024.
  • The UAE's Globalpharma entered a partnership with Egypt’s Nerhadou to develop advanced technology for the manufacturing of medicines and supplements.
  • An agreement was also signed to transfer technology to two Jordanian companies – Savvy Pharma and Triumph. Both projects will commence in 2023 with a total investment value of $60 million. Production capacity will reach 5 million packages annually per product.
  • Jordanian company Itqan announced a technology transfer partnership and contract manufacturing agreement with Globalpharma and ADCAN Pharma to manufacture syringes, aerosols, and inhalers.
  • Itqan also entered a MoU with Egypt’s Marcyrl for the transfer of technology in manufacturing biosimilars in Jordan at a total investment value of $10 million, with the aim of launching products by fourth quarter of 2024.
  • Bahrain-based Alpha Biotic signed two MoUs for knowledge and technology transfer as well as contract manufacturing with Jordan’s Dar Al Dawa and Egypt’s EIPICO, to produce general products, oncology products, medical solutions, and other pharmaceutical products. The project, with an investment value of $174 million over two phases, is expected to reach production capacity of 350 million pills per year.
  • Gulf Biotech, another Bahrain-based company, announced plans to establish a plant to manufacture raw materials for vaccines and other products at an investment value of $103 million and a production capacity of 105 doses per year. Earlier this month, it had signed a technology transfer agreement with Egypt’s BioGeneric Pharma.

The 12 projects are expected to create approximately 13,000 job opportunities and boost national GDP in the partnering countries by more than $1.6 billion, the MoIAT statement said.

It said the Partnership’s Executive Committee will continue to search for new projects and evaluate and enable projects, including a fertiliser factory in Jordan at an estimated cost of $800 million.

In August 2022, Zawya Projects had reported that the regional initiative had shortlisted 12 projects worth $3.4 billion for feasibility study.

https://www.zawya.com/en/projects/industry/uae-egypt-jordan-industrial-partnership-shortlists-12-projects-worth-34bln-txxokulf

Bahrain will host the fourth meeting of the Higher Committee, where more joint projects will be discussed.

The first meeting in the UAE’s capital, Abu Dhabi had discussed accelerating the pace of industrial integration opportunities and enhancing cooperation by involving more sectors, in addition to the 5 main sectors of agriculture, food and fertilisers, pharmaceuticals, textiles, minerals, and petrochemicals.

(Writing by Eman Hamed; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(anoop.menon@lseg.com)