Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has signed a partnership agreement with a leading Saudi organisation to set up an iron and steel factory in the Ain Sukhna region of Egypt at an investment of $1 billion said a report.

As per the deal, Saudi International Expertise Association Academy will set up the new factory on a plot owned by the SCA.

Once completed, the new Suez Canal for Iron and Steel plant will boast a production capacity of about 1.2 million tonnes of steel per annum, reported Amwal Alghad, citing a senior official.

The partnership agreement is worth $500 million, while the contracted upon investments are estimated at $1 billion, stated SCA chairman Mohab Mameesh, after signing the deal with Saudi Prince Walid bin Saud Bin Mosaed Bin Abdel Aziz of the Academy.

The new plant is set to be the core for establishing a complex for iron and steel industries, he added.