As part of a visit to Egypt, Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, Vitaliy Koval, met with Walid Gamal el Din, CEO of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), which encompasses six ports, the ministry reported.

The ministry stated that Minister Koval and Ukraine's Ambassador to Egypt Mykola Nahorny, acting on President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's instructions, explored the potential for creating a food hub in Egypt. They inspected port infrastructure and locations where Ukrainian businesses could establish storage and logistics facilities, including silos and warehouses.

"SCZone is Egypt's key economic zone, offering favorable conditions for investors and industrial development. Our goal is for Ukrainian agrarians not just to export raw materials but to use special economic zones for processing. Ukrainian products should enter African markets with added value, such as flour, pasta, and other food products," Koval said.

He emphasized that SCZone allows for creating production sites and industrial zones with tax and customs benefits, simplified registration procedures, and access to a vast market of over 1.3 billion consumers across Africa and the Arab world.

"Ukraine is a strategic player in global food security, and collaboration with SCZone opens new prospects for our agrarians and exporters. We're working to ensure that Ukrainian products are even more accessible on African markets," the minister concluded.