CAIRO, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Egypt signed on Wednesday an agreement with Russia to establish a Russian industrial zone in Suez Canal Corridor (SCC), Egyptian official MENA news agency reported.
The agreement was signed by Egyptian Minister of Trade and Industry Tarek Qabil and his Russian counterpart Denis Manturov on behalf of their governments.
According to MENA, the 50-year agreement represents a significant shift in Egyptian-Russian strategic relations as the deal is automatically renewable for five consecutive years upon the two parties' approval.
The agreement aims at bolstering mutual cooperation at the industrial level, increasing investment opportunities and creating an adequate environment for further technical and scientific cooperation between the two sides, MENA quoted the Egyptian minister as saying.
The industrial zone will be established on an area of 5.25 million square meters under the usufruct right system, Qabil noted.
The zone is expected to lure about seven billion U.S. dollars worth of investments.
The development of the Suez Canal Corridor is one of Egypt's ongoing mega projects that are supervised by the Suez Canal Authority and its Canal Economic Zone (SCZone).