Egypt moves to improve export logistics and explores a pan-African gold hub to strengthen trade and supply chains.
Egypt is taking decisive steps to streamline its export operations and position itself as a central hub for regional trade. This week, the Egyptian Commercial Service (ECS) and the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) advanced parallel initiatives aimed at improving market access, easing trade processes, and reinforcing regional value chains.
The ECS held discussions with the Egyptian Exporters Association (Expolink) to enhance collaboration that supports exports to international markets. Logistics coordination was a key focus, linking exporters with overseas commercial offices, trade missions, and processes for entering new markets.
El-Sherif said, “The coming period would see intensified cooperation with Expolink through targeted action plans in international markets, reflecting a push to improve how exports are prepared, registered and routed through foreign jurisdictions.”
The ECS is working to align exporters with established market-entry mechanisms and to uncover new opportunities. This alignment has direct implications for freight planning, documentation, and compliance-driven logistics.
Expolink is considered a strategic partner, particularly in expanding high value-added sectors. Such growth creates additional demand for specialised logistics, faster transit times, and improved coordination across ports, airports, and inland networks.
Qassem said, “The transformation underway in global industry includes a gradual shift from Asia to Africa, positioning Egypt to capture rising export and investment flows.”
Expolink has also broadened its activities to promote investment for export, which can be coordinated with ECS offices abroad to attract foreign investment into export-focused industries.
Executive Director Ahmed Taha explained that promotional programmes and trade missions help connect exporters with overseas buyers, requiring well-structured logistics support to convert potential leads into sustained trade.
The ECS will organise regular virtual meetings with its offices abroad to handle company inquiries and raise awareness of foreign market requirements, including product registration and regulatory compliance. These measures aim to reduce friction in export logistics and ensure cargo enters international supply chains prepared and compliant.
In a related move, the CBE signed a memorandum of understanding with the African Export–Import Bank (Afreximbank) to explore creating a pan-African gold bank. The plan could establish a hub in a designated Egyptian free zone, including an accredited refinery, secure vaults, and integrated trading and financial services.
This initiative is designed to reduce Africa’s reliance on overseas refining and trading centres while securing bullion supply chains on the continent.
“The partnership also builds on a shared vision between the CBE and Afreximbank to support domestic manufacturing, enhance sustainable development, and deepen regional financial and trade integration, fostering a robust and advanced African economic ecosystem,” the CBE said.
CBE Governor Hassan Abdallah added that the project could evolve into a broader pan-African framework involving governments, central banks, and market participants, subject to regulatory approvals.
He noted Egypt’s potential to host large continental projects, connecting Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, with implications for high-security transport, storage, and cross-border movement of precious metals.
Afreximbank President George Elombi said the initiative aims to reshape how gold is extracted, refined, stored, and traded within Africa. “We make a bold declaration that Africa’s gold must serve African people,”Elombi said.
Together, the ECS-Expolink collaboration and the CBE-Afreximbank gold banking initiative reflect Egypt’s broader strategy to anchor trade flows domestically and regionally. By placing logistics, compliance, and infrastructure at the centre of planning, the country is positioning itself for expanded exports and deeper regional integration.