Alaa Farouk, Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, received Mohamed Shalbaya, Chairman of the Board of Directors of PepsiCo Group, and his accompanying delegation, and discussed with them ways to increase the company’s investments in Egypt and support small farmers.
During the meeting, the Minister of Agriculture was briefed on the volume of the international company’s production and its investment in the Arab Republic of Egypt in the field of potato production, cultivation and manufacturing under the supervision of Egyptian cadres estimated at approximately more than 20 thousand direct and indirect workers, as the group invested approximately 515 million dollars in the last 5 years as supervisors in the factory. New potatoes, production lines, and various agricultural activities.
Farouk stressed that the Egyptian state is working to create an investment climate and encourages the private sector in the field of agriculture, whether local or foreign, and appreciates its role as an essential partner in development.
The Minister of Agriculture praised the company’s role in the field of production, manufacturing, supporting farmers and marketing their products. He also presented to the company officials some opportunities available in the ministry to enhance their investments and provide more job opportunities, pointing to the state’s interest in encouraging investment in the field of agricultural manufacturing given that it achieves added value to the national product and also provides opportunities. Work as well as price control.
Farouk also praised the cooperation with the company to support small farmers by purchasing and processing their production, as well as training them and raising their efficiency.
For his part, the company’s president welcomed the cooperation with the ministry and the ideas put forward by the Minister of Agriculture in order to remove the obstacles facing the company, as well as increasing its investments in Egypt, supporting small farmers, and cooperating with the Agricultural Bank of Egypt in this regard under the umbrella of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Shelbaya also welcomed cooperation with the Ministry in the field of raising the efficiency of its assets, as well as unifying efforts to produce potato seeds locally to reduce the import bill and the depletion of foreign currency.
