CAIRO, March 16 (Xinhua) -- China's home appliance giant Haier held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday for its first Egyptian factory, aiming to boost the manufacturing industry and provide local jobs in the North African country.

Haier Egypt Ecological Park, invested by Haier Group's subsidiary Haier Smart Home with a total of 160 million U.S. dollars, will cover an area of 200,000 square meters in the 10th of Ramadan City of northeastern Sharqia Province.

Speaking at the ceremony, Hossam Heiba, the CEO of the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones of Egypt, hailed the strong economic ties between Egypt and China, saying that the Egyptian government attaches great importance to the cooperation with China and is ready to attract more Chinese investment, especially in technology and engineering industries as well as home appliances, which will help the Egyptian economy to move up the value chain.

Haier Egypt Ecological Park is an important project as it will facilitate the transfer of home appliance manufacturing technology and create about 2,000 jobs in Egypt, Heiba said.

Zhou Zhencheng, the minister counselor of the economic and commercial office at the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, said that the implementation of this project will lead more enterprises to invest and set up factories in Egypt, help to upgrade the local upstream and downstream segments of home appliance manufacturing, and increase the inflow of foreign currency for the country.

The first phase of the project, which will be put into operation in the first half of 2024, focuses on the production of air conditioners, washing machines, and TVs, and the second phase will produce refrigerators and freezers.

Li Huagang, chairman and president of Haier Smart Home, said that Haier Egypt Ecological Park aims to become a regional home appliance manufacturing base, which can provide products for markets in the Middle East, North Africa, as well as Eastern and Southern Africa.

Haier Egypt Ecological Park is also committed to the development of smart manufacturing industries so as to provide Egyptian consumers with better experiences and help upgrade the industrial chain of Egyptian home appliances, Li added.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service

GLOBALink | China's home appliance giant Haier builds 1st plant in Egypt