the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia.
The existing canal earns Egypt around $5 billion per year, a vital source of hard currency. The new canal, which will allow two-way traffic of larger ships, is supposed to increase revenues by 2023 to $15 billion, Mameesh said.
The government also plans to build an international industrial and logistics hub near the Suez Canal that it expects will eventually make up about a third of the Egyptian economy.
Mameesh said he hopes a law designed to ease red tape for investors in the new Suez industrial hub will be enacted this week, adding that the new canal and the hub projects could help Egypt to realize an extra $100 billion in revenue per year.
