China and Egypt economic cooperation of great importance: Ambassador

Enhancing China and Egypt economic cooperation and investment is very important and has a direct impact on the wellbeing of people and prosperity for both countries, said the Egyptian ambassador to China in Beijing on Aug 31.

Egypt has a set of new policies to encourage investment, and there is a growing Chinese interest in investment in Egypt in different sectors, said Assem Hanafi, Egyptian ambassador to China.

Hossam Heiba, president of the Egyptian General Authority for Investment & Free Zones, echoed Hanafi's opinion and said Egypt and China have been trade and investment partners for such a long time thanks to the very strong political relationship between the two countries.

It has been crowned by the invitation and approval to join BRICS, which will open a completely different horizon of investment, business and trade between Egypt and China.

"We believe that both countries can benefit from the experiences and resources that they both have," said Heiba, adding that energy will be a major sector Egypt will focus on for bilateral cooperation, together with manufacturing, chemicals, electronics and agricultural sectors.

Heiba has been amazed by the high-quality development of China and considers it definitely something Egypt is looking forward to replicating by taking the development China has experienced in the past years to Egypt.

"And we are already doing that in the new capital that you're building; actually a good part of the central business district, the CBD of the new capital, is done by China construction. So China construction is replicating and transferring the knowledge that they have done in your different CBDs of China, implementing the same in the new capital (in Egypt)," Heiba said.

This is something that the Egyptian state is very much welcoming and would love to have more and more in different sectors, he added.

Hanafi spoke highly of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by China, stating that it will benefit the world and considered it quite an important initiative linking all these countries together for an optimistic and bright future.

Many Chinese companies have entered the Egyptian market and brought technology and economic benefits to the Egyptian people.

Seeds are considered the "chip" in the agricultural industry and, with seeds in hand, Jinan Xuechao Seed Industry Co Ltd entered markets in many countries along the Belt and Road, including Egypt, and brought huge economic benefits to African countries, said Zhang Xuechao, general manager of the company.

"We appreciate the Chinese technology and the Chinese industries. The economic growth plans that Egypt has for the coming ten years will definitely benefit from Chinese companies in achieving this economic growth," Heiba said.

The total trade volume between China and Egypt in 2022 was $18.19 billion, of which China imported $1.02 billion from Egypt and exported $17.17 billion to Egypt, according to the Ministry of Commerce citing data from Chinese customs.