The parliament’s Industry Committee will conclude discussions about the automotive industry law on Wednesday, said committee deputy Mohamed El-Zeny. The draft law is scheduled to be submitted to the cabinet which will send it to the State Council to review the legal wording.

He added that the committee listened to all sides in the automotive industry, including automotive manufacturers and feeding industries to produce an accurate law.

He pointed out that the committee rejected a proposal to deduct 0.5% of sales for the development of laboratories and employment in the sector.

Committee member Tarek El-Sayyed said companies wishing to participate in the strategy will pay a subscription fee which will be collected by a management council, in accordance to the draft law.

He added that the subscription fee has not yet been determined and will be subject to the export categories.

The management council will include representatives of the ministries of finance, industry and military production as well as the Industrial Development Authority.

El-Sayyed added that the parliament took into account all the international conventions signed by Egypt which are applicable until 2019, so as to increase the proportion of components manufactured locally.

He expects the parliament to complete the draft law within a month.

Ahmed Abdel Wahab, chairperson of FAW Group, said the Egyptian government’s automotive strategy was inspired by the South African experience, which takes into account the domestic market and then the overseas markets, unlike the Moroccan experience which depended on foreign markets initially.

He added that this strategy aims to develop the automotive sector over an eight-year period, with two main axes: automotive manufacturing and feeder industries.