Egypt's Ministry of Military Production and China's vehicle manufacturer, Foton Motor, launched a new project for joint manufacturing of electric buses in Egypt.
During the launch in Salam City, both sides celebrated the delivery of Foton's first batch of two electric buses for the host county.
In his speech, Egyptian Minister of Military Production Mohammed al-Assar said that he was honored for the first two buses as part of the first phase of the deal to manufacture these buses from China in Egypt.
The localization of the electric buses production in Egypt will be under Egypt's Ministry of Military Production, the Egyptian company IMUT and Foton Motor.
The Egyptian ministry signed an agreement with Foton Motor in April to produce 2,000 electric buses within four years in one of the ministry's factories.
The agreement states that in December 2019, some 48 electric buses will get delivered to the Egyptian army's factory.
Al-Assar said that "The Ministry of Military Production signed a number of agreements and memorandums of understanding with Chinese companies" in vehicle manufacturing.
This also includes the signing of Memorandum of Understanding for a factory for the production of electric vehicle charging stations.
He added that his ministry worked at full capacity to expedite the completion of the requirements and processes so Foton's electric bus production can be started to serve Egypt's transport sector.
The minister pointed out that the country "will soon witness a new industrial revolution to keep pace with the technological development" in manufacturing electric vehicles.
Ma Rentao, vice president of Foton Group and president of Foton International, said the electric buses' delivery is an outcome from the April cooperation deal signed at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation held in Beijing.
At the launch, he said that they are pleased to see that the localization of the electric buses production progressed steadily.
Ma stressed that China's Foton's complete support to Egypt's new energy vehicle aims, giving the country a competitive edge and creating economic and social value.
Li Wei pointed out that Beijing has always supported its enterprises to compete on the world stage.
The chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress also added that when it comes to partner countries of the "Belt and Road, "China helps in building infrastructure to improve people's livelihood.
He said that the delivery of the first batch of Foton pure electric buses in Cairo being the best example.
The Chinese official said that using electric buses and vehicles is a logical move to improve the atmosphere by reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
