One on one with El Khatib: Masa’a DMC’s Osama Kamal hosted Investment Minister Hassan El Khatib, who outlined his plans to overhaul trade infrastructure, cut customs clearance time, and boost export competitiveness.

El Khatib’s priorities: Egypt needs to double down on infrastructure, trade agreements, and its “genius geographic location” to localize competitive industries and boost exports to the EU, Africa, and the Gulf, El Khatib told Kamal (watch, runtime: 4:00). El Khatib said the government is focused on boosting trade competitiveness as part of a broader strategy to attract investment into high-value industries.

Egypt’s trade needs an overhaul: El Khatib recalled his remarks when he took office — calling for an “overhaul” in trade management to bring Egypt into the ranks of the top 50 nations in terms of trade competitiveness. To that end, “clear monetary policies are essential,” he said, adding that trade performance hinges on clearance times. El Khatib said traditional solutions will no longer cut it — and that the country needs to take “big decisions” to move forward.

Customs clearance time slashed — but more to come: El Khatib said his ultimate target is to bring customs clearance time down from 16 days to just a few hours, though a more realistic short-term goal is to slash it by 75-80% within a year. “We’ve already cut clearance times from 16 days to 5.8 days after coordinating with 27 institutions involved in the customs process,” he said (watch, runtime: 2:54 | 3:25).

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