The Cabinet’s Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) has issued on Sunday, September 6, 2026, a new edition of its periodical “Contemporary Economic Horizons” titled “Changes in Trade Policies” examining the rapid transformations taking place in the global trading system and the opportunities they create for emerging economies to reposition themselves within global value and supply chains.
The edition said the world is witnessing a gradual shift in the philosophy of international trade. Investment and production decisions are no longer based solely on seeking the lowest costs and highest efficiency. Supply-chain resilience, economic security, securing energy and technology supplies and reducing the risks of dependence on a single source have become key factors in determining production and investment locations worldwide.
The center said these shifts pose challenges for developing economies while also opening new opportunities to attract investment and relocate certain stages of production, particularly as global companies seek to diversify their production bases and bring them closer to major markets.
Its exports rose to around $283 billion in 2020, after recording an annual growth rate of nearly 15% in dollar terms since 2000. At the same time, Vietnam’s experience shows that export growth and foreign investment alone are not sufficient measures of success.
Domestic value added remains at around 35%-40%, compared with approximately 55%-60% in China and more than 70% in South Korea. This underscores that the greatest gains come when countries move beyond assembly and labor-intensive production toward more advanced stages of manufacturing, technology and knowledge.
The edition also examined India’s experience, which has adopted a more selective trade policy linking trade openness to industrial policy objectives and economic security. This has been reflected in its selection of trade agreements that align with its economic priorities, alongside efforts to boost domestic production, diversify energy sources and markets, develop infrastructure and support the integration of Indian companies into global supply chains.
The two experiences, the edition said, highlight a fundamental shift in the concept of trade policy. The objective is no longer simply to increase trade volumes, but to maximize the value added, technology, jobs and productive capabilities retained within the national economy.
Against the backdrop of these changes, the center said Egypt’s strategic geographic location, proximity to European, Arab and African markets, economic and industrial zones and extensive network of trade agreements give it significant advantages in benefiting from the reshaping of global supply chains.
The edition stressed that maximizing Egypt’s gains from these shifts requires focusing on attracting export-oriented investment, increasing local content, promoting technology transfer, deepening manufacturing, developing logistics and digital infrastructure, and helping Egyptian companies integrate into and move up global value chains.
It also highlighted the importance of viewing foreign investment as a means of building domestic productive capacity rather than an end in itself. Accordingly, the key questions when assessing new investments should be how much value the investment will add to the Egyptian economy, the volume of its exports, its share of local content, and the technology and expertise it will transfer.