This year’s Sourcing at Magic will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the signing of a trade agreement by the US, Egypt and Israel with senior level trade officials on hand from those countries.
Under this agreement, Qualifying Industrial Zones (QIZ’s) were set-up in Egypt to manufacture and export duty free apparel to the US.
Apparel exports from these QIZ’s could export, duty-free garments to the US provided that they satisfied the agreed upon Israeli components, in manufacturing of such apparel.
QIZ’s started operating in seven designated industrial locations in Egypt and starting with an initial 397 qualified companies in these seven locations, the numbers have rapidly expanded to encompass over 15 QIZ’s.
Between these 15 QIZ’s, there are currently nearly 700 qualified companies, and more qualifying each quarter and with more than $1 billion in annual revenues.
Egypt’s QIZ offers investors, significant long-term advantages over other preferential trade agreements due to its ongoing commitment with no expiration date and no reduction in tariff schedules.