Egyptian PM visits Indian plant in Port Said

Egypt's Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb promised to resolve all issues faced by Indian investors in the country during a visit to the TCI Sanmar plant in Port Said, the largest Indian investment in Egypt.

The prime minister, who was accompanied by six cabinet ministers and the governor of Port Said, General Samah Qandil, visited the chemical manufacturing plant Tuesday. Mehleb said he was impressed by the scale of the manufacturing facility and its future plans for expansion, a press release from the Indian embassy in Cairo said Wednesday.

Ambassador Navdeep Suri said the personal interest taken by the prime minister and senior ministers in visiting the plant was a positive signal for Indian investments, which amount to more than $2.5 billion across 50 different companies in the country.

"Indian companies like the Sanmar group have demonstrated their willingness and ability to undertake major investments in Egypt. Their success will encourage other Indian companies to do the same," the ambassador said.

The TCI Sanmar plant in Port Said manufactures 275,000 metric tonnes of caustic soda per annum, 60,000 metric tonnes of green ethylene from ethanol and 200,000 metric tonnes of poly vinyl chloride (PVC), which is the raw material for the manufacture of several products like pipes, cables, upholstery, door and window profiles.

The Sanmar Group, a conglomerate based in southern India, has so far invested $1.15 billion in the TCI Sanmar project. An additional investment of $150 million is planned to set-up a new PVC plant with a capacity of 200,000 metric tonnes, and enhance the ethylene manufacturing capacity by 60,000 metric tonnes.