Australian ambassador to Egypt confirms his country’s desire to increase cooperation and investment with Egypt
A detailed report received by Minister of Finance Amr El-Garhy from the Ministry of Finance’s Mint Authority highlighted the visited received by the latter. The report included the visit of Australian Ambassador to Egypt Neil Hawkins, who recently visited the authority. He also heard from Abdel Raouf Al-Ahmadi, head of the Mint Authority, about the details of producing coins and memorabilia, as well as car plates, which are partially imported from abroad for the authority to print the numbers and letters on them.
Sherif Hazem, adviser to the minister of finance, said that the visit of the Australian ambassador also reviewed the current plans to develop the authority and study joint cooperation between Egypt and Australia in this area, in addition to future expansion plans for the establishment of a modern industrial complex for coins and car plates, instead of importing them to cover the needs of the local and regional markets, especially African and Arab coins.
The report also noted the praise of the Australian ambassador of the quality, accuracy, and magnificence of the products manufactured by the authority. He also expressed his great interest in his country’s participation in the future expansion plans of the Egyptian Mint Authority, especially at this time when the regional role of Egypt in the Middle East is rising.
Moreover, the report stated that Hans-Peter Hofmann, economic cooperation adviser at the German Embassy in Cairo, also visited the authority, where he listened to engineers explaining the plans for developing production lines and increasing their capacity of coins to meet the growing needs of the local market for change and to increase reliance on local manufacturing instead of importing, which will be done through communication with all the German companies that specialise in minting and coinage.
Hazem said that the Ministry of Finance is considering joint cooperation with a number of major countries to develop mint production lines in order to reach the highest global technical levels, in implementation of the plan adopted by the minister of finance to improve the authority.
The Egyptian Mint Authority is one of the oldest bodies affiliated with the Ministry of Finance. It was issued by royal decree Law 178 of 1950 establishing a house for the minting of Egyptian coins. The construction and implementation process continued until the first production began circulation in mid-1954. The department also manufactures and produces many non-currency products, such as medals, awards, coins, spare parts, and stamps on various occasions.
