China's home appliance giant Haier inaugurates industrial park in Egypt

CAIRO, May 2 (Xinhua) -- China's home appliance giant Haier inaugurated Thursday its first industrial park in Egypt in 10th of Ramadan, a city northeast of Cairo.

Haier Smart Home Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the Haier Group, invests 135 million U.S. dollars to build the Haier Egypt Ecological Park.

Once fully built, it will cover an area of 200,000 square meters with an annual planned production capacity of more than 1.5 million units of home appliances.

Song Yujun, a vice president at Haier Smart Home overseeing its ecosystem platform, said at the opening ceremony that the park, at its planned capacity, will not only meet Egypt's market demands but can be export-ready to neighboring markets.

Trial production is in the swing in the first phase of the industrial park with air-conditioners, televisions and washing machines rolling off the line, Haier Egypt General Manager Ahmed Mossad El Gendi told Xinhua during a media tour at the plant.

Gendi noted the park will create 3,000 local jobs and have 40-65 percent of its spare parts localized once the project's second phase is completed.