Egypt negotiating U.S. to include Upper Egypt industrial zones in QIZ deal

Egypt is negotiating with the United States to include new industrial zones in Upper Egypt to the Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ) treaty, an official in the Egyptian government announced Monday.

Ashraf Al Rabie, Head of the QIZ Division at the Egyptian Ministry of Trade, further said that there are two qualifying industrial zones in the Upper Egypt region, in Menya and Beni Suef.

In July 1999, Egypt and the United States signed the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) as a preliminary step towards a free trade agreement between the two countries. Proceeding in that same direction, the U.S. announced the formation of QIZ in Egypt on December 10, 2004. The QIZ agreement allows Egyptians to export to the US tariff-free as long as they use a certain percentage of Israeli goods.

Egypt’s total exports under the QIZ treaty are estimated at US$9 billion since the agreement came into effect in 2004, the Egyptian official added.