Chinese mission to visit Cairo to probe trade relations

Head of the Egyptian Trade Representation Office in Beijing Ayman Ali Othman said a Chinese trade mission will accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping during his upcoming visit to Egypt to get briefed on Egypt's strategic development plans and projects that are currently under construction in all fields, especially the new Suez Canal Corridor project.

In statements to MENA correspondent here, Othman voiced hope over bolstering Sino-Egyptian relations in the oil and petrochemicals domain and establishing new industrial and agricultural projects as the two countries are celebrating the 60th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations.

He said Egypt has vast potentials for establishing national mega projects and Cairo could benefit from the Chinese expertise, citing the furniture projects in Damietta as well as textiles and ready-to-wear clothes in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Minya.

Othman also pointed out that contacts are currently underway with a Chinese company which is willing to take part in the project of reclaiming 1.5 feddans of lands.

China has a state-of-the-art technology in the agricultural field, the official said, voicing hope over forming a Chinese consortium to start implementing agricultural projects in Egypt, he added.

Egypt and China have signed a strategic partnership in December 2014 which included 27 agreements to implement several projects between Egypt and China, Othman noted, adding that Egypt and China signed an agreement in 2015 to raise the Egyptian productivity rates in view of Egypt's implementing of 15 projects in the fields of energy, transport, utilities, infrastructure and information technology.

A Chinese company has also showed interest in establishing the new administrative capital and there are current negotiations with the Egyptian government in this regard, he said.

China is open to cooperation with Egypt in various domains, Othman said adding that Chinese president has recently announced the allocation of dlrs 60 billion to support investments in Africa in the coming phase.

He also noted that China would grant Egypt dlrs 30 milllion during the Chinese president's visit to Cairo to be channeled to implementing projects under construction between the two sides.