Egypt’s Ministry of Industry is studying the introduction of a new industrial assessment mechanism, known as the “Qeema” Certificate, which would link government incentives and benefits to the performance ratings of industrial establishments, Minister of Industry Khaled Hashem said.
Hashem chaired the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Egyptian Industrial Product Preference Committee, following Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2286/2026 and in implementation of Law No. 5/2015 on the preference of Egyptian products in government contracts.
The minister said the committee’s new formation would mark the start of efforts to reactivate and comprehensively develop Egypt’s industrial product preference system, making it more effective, transparent and measurable.
The upgraded system will also align with the government’s objectives of deepening local manufacturing, increasing domestic value added and measuring the economic contribution of national industrial establishments.
Hashem noted that the practical implementation of the Egyptian product preference law in government contracts over recent years had revealed several challenges, particularly in measuring local content and establishing effective links between relevant authorities and government procurement and contracting systems.
He stressed the need to review and develop the legislative and executive frameworks governing the law based on lessons learned from its implementation, including through legislative and regulatory amendments to improve enforcement, monitoring and oversight.
The ministry will focus on several key areas, including ensuring that the committee operates regularly and strengthening the role of its technical secretariat. A decision will also be issued to reconstitute the technical secretariat, headed by a representative of the Federation of Egyptian Industries.
The minister also highlighted the importance of establishing an integrated information system and effective electronic connectivity among relevant authorities through a unified, regularly updated database covering industrial products, establishments and local-content certificates.
The database would be linked to government procurement and contracting systems, allowing administrative bodies to electronically and quickly verify whether products and establishments meet preference requirements, while improving monitoring and providing more accurate data for policymaking.
Hashem said the measures aim to encourage companies to deepen local manufacturing, localise additional stages of value chains, transfer technology and increase domestic value added, while maintaining clear, fair and easily applicable rules.
He added that the performance of the preference system would not be measured solely by the number of certificates issued, but also by its actual impact on Egyptian industry.
Key indicators would include the volume of government purchases of Egyptian industrial products, compliance with the law, the actual benefits generated by the preference system, and changes in local-content and value-added ratios.
The ministry will also monitor implementation challenges and introduce corrective measures where necessary, Hashem said.
Under the proposed “Qeema” Certificate, industrial establishments would receive graded assessments, with benefits and incentives linked to their scores. The system is intended to encourage companies to increase local content, deepen manufacturing, develop local suppliers, and invest in technology and research and development.
The mechanism is designed to maximise the economic impact of the Egyptian industrial product preference system, so that eligibility for preferential treatment would not depend solely on meeting a minimum local-content threshold, but would also reflect an establishment’s contribution to broader industrial development objectives.
The study included proposals to improve measurement and incentive mechanisms, as well as the proposed “Qeema” Certificate for developing the local industrial-content certification system.
The proposed system would introduce a graded assessment framework under which incentives and benefits would be determined according to an establishment’s rating, creating stronger incentives to increase local content, enhance production and technological capabilities, and improve the efficiency of domestic supply chains.
The study also proposed a mechanism for calculating an adjusted evaluation price for government tenders using a coefficient derived from an establishment’s “Qeema” Certificate score. This would allow the industrial and economic value added of locally manufactured products to be incorporated into the evaluation and comparison of bids in government tenders.
