Minister delays exempting cars from customs

Egypt's Minister of Immigration Nabila Makram revealed that the Egyptian government decided to delay the application of customs exemption for the car of Egyptian people temporarily due to the current economic situation witnessed in the country. She added that they formed a committee to discuss the ways to implement this proposal in the near future, while the recent economic decisions prevented them from achieving their objectives.

She added, during an interview with "Arabs Today", that she summoned the ambassadors of Arab countries and economic experts to discuss the measures that should be taken during the coming period to implement the proposal.

She added that the government faces three major challenges to implement this proposal; the first is the citizen living inside the country, as he has the right to buy a car from outside the country with no customs to ensure the equality among all Egyptian citizens.

The second factor, the minister added, is the current economic conditions witnessed in the country, saying that the current economic position witnessed notable deterioration during the current period. She added that the government also takes into account the local car industry, saying that the government should take the decision supporting the local industry during the current critical conditions.

On the other hand, the Egyptian minister called the Egyptians living outside the country to support the Egyptian economy through buying the Egyptian dollar certificates. She praised the Egyptians who were keen to buy the certificates to support their country's economy.

She added that the law to criminalize the illegal immigration is not enough to eliminate the phenomenon, saying that it is important to improve the economic situation to pave the way for containing such serious phenomenon. She stressed the need for providing more job opportunities to eliminate the unemployment.

She added that the government supports the legal immigration during the coming period, saying that she met with EU Ambassador to Cairo calling him for preparing the Egyptian workers to meet the demands of the European market.