The Suez Canal Economic Zone will begin work on the new and improved Russian Industrial Zone (RIZ) by the beginning of next year, SCZone head Yehia Zaki said (pdf) today during a meeting with a delegation of Russian companies interested in setting up shop in Egypt. Infrastructure work on the zone will begin in early 2022 at the latest following the signing of a contract that will create a company to manage the RIZ, he said. Zaki told Russian media earlier this year that the zone would be implemented before the end of 2021.

A bigger, better RIZ: The two countries recently agreed to expand the area of the Russian zone, granting it an additional 5 mn square meters distributed between east Port Said and Ain Sokhna. The RIZ also marks Russia’s first industrial zone outside its borders and it will enable the country to be present in African and regional markets. July’s agreement also allows Russian companies to sell up to 100% of their locally-made products in the Egyptian market.

The Russians are in town: The delegation, which includes a number of officials along with representatives of Russian companies, are examining land and discussing with officials the potential for investment.