A committee including members of the ministries of the interior, industry and manpower as well as representatives from the Egyptian Trade Union Federation (ETUF) will be formed to help resolve conflicts between striking workers and factory owners, said newly appointed Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh on Tuesday during his first meeting with the ETUF board of directors.

Saleh also promised to work on legislation that would “modernize” Egyptian industries, such as developing new laws regulating industry, food safety and the ETUF.

The minister called on all industry representatives to seek constructive compromises with protesting workers within the framework of the ETUF guidelines.

At the meeting, business owners asked that the ministry also address issues including expediting the permit process and facilitating the delivery of resources like natural gas to companies. They also called for reviewing the price of water consumption, the cost of customs on product import and export, and to heighten monitoring of the import of Chinese goods into Egypt.

Meeting attendees also requested that permits granted to cosmetics factories be regulated in coordination with the Health Ministry.

Saleh said he will hold meetings with other members of the Cabinet over the coming days to find solutions to these problems.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm