Egypt has invited Tata Motors to build a factory to make the Nano, the world's cheapest car, in the African country for the local market and sales elsewhere, the Mint newspaper reported on Thursday.

'Egypt is seeking consent of Tata for left-hand drive Nano to be produced in Egypt, where a huge market is expected not only internally, but in the left-hand drive market in the Middle East and in Europe,' the paper quoted Egypt's ambassador to India, Mohamed Higazy, as saying.

Higazy told the paper the company would consider the proposal after the initial phase of the Nano launch.

Tata launched the Nano in March this year and is expected to to take it to Europe by 2011 and to the United States later.

'While Tata Motors has said that the Tata Nano and its variants will also be introduced in other countries, the company has not decided on its manufacturing strategy (in other countries), let alone Egypt,' the paper quoted a Tata Motors spokesman as saying in an email.-Reuters