Chinese home appliance giant Haier launches groundbreaking ceremony for 40-mln-USD plant in Egypt

CAIRO, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese home appliance giant Haier held a groundbreaking ceremony on Monday for the second phase of its industrial park in Egypt in 10th of Ramadan, a city northeast of Cairo.

The Haier Egypt Ecological Park is invested by Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Haier Group. Once fully built, the park will cover an area of 200,000 square meters and have an annual production capacity of more than 1.5 million units of home appliances.

The second phase of the project, with an investment of about 40 million U.S. dollars, will mainly produce refrigerators and freezers.

During the ceremony, Zhou Yunjie, chairman and CEO of Haier Group, said the first batch of products manufactured in the first phase of the park have been exported to Kenya in July. After the second phase of the project becomes operational, it will further help Egypt's manufacturing industry to go global.

Egyptian Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade Hassan El Khatib said Haier is the first Chinese enterprise to obtain a Golden License (Comprehensive Approval) from the Egyptian government, which makes it a role model for foreign enterprises investing in the Egyptian market.

Zhang Tao, minister and deputy chief of mission of the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, said that the success of the first phase of the Haier Egypt Ecological Park has attracted more Chinese enterprises to invest and set up factories in Egypt, which promoted the upgrading of Egypt's home appliance manufacturing industry, created jobs, trained outstanding talents, and increased Egypt's foreign exchange incomes.

The first phase of the industrial park was inaugurated in May, with trial production of air-conditioners, televisions, and washing machines.