The Egyptian Soda Ash Company has held its first regular general assembly, in attendance of Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Karim Badawi, to approve its operational results for the fiscal year (FY) 2023.

The company held a general assembly to discuss the entry of new investors, including the Egyptian Company for Mineral Resources and Misr Insurance, due to its attractiveness as the first project of its kind in the Middle East and Arab region.

The company has made significant progress, despite facing many challenges, such as successfully awarding the general contractor, the Chinese company TCC, which is one of the leading companies in the field of establishing soda ash projects globally, which will also contribute to arranging a financing share from external sources.

This is besides proceeding in parallel with negotiations with other financing entities, as a contract was signed with the project’s financial consultant and environmental studies consultant. On the other hand, all raw materials necessary for the project were contracted from local sources, and agreements were signed to market the factory’s products locally and globally in quantities exceeding the factory’s production capacity.

Ibrahim Mekki, Chairman of Egyptian Petrochemicals Holding Company (ECHEM), stated that the petroleum sector is moving at an accelerated pace to implement several integrated plans on several levels for a group of projects for which ambitious budgets have been allocated until 2035 as part of its strategy to develop the petrochemical industry.

This development program comprises several projects to exploit the natural resources of the Egyptian state to increase added value, along with projects to replace, develop, and renew existing projects to modernize petroleum entities, develop and improve energy efficiency, industrial security projects, and environmental compatibility, in addition to green petrochemical projects.