USD 13.8 Bn Dollars Trade Volume Between China And Egypt – Hopefully More Investments In Future
Ali Issa, chairman of the Egyptian Businessmen Association (EBA), has said that there are around 1,200 Chinese companies of different sizes are operating in Egypt.
Spread across the industry, information technology, and economic sectors, these businesses are heavily impacting on the North African country’s economy.
It was reported in 2018 that the trade volume between Egypt and China exceeded 13.8 Bn dollars, and that was a record high. The Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Liao, Liqiang, said that China’s investments the Arab nation have reached almost USD 7 Bn in the last five years.
According to him, 90 percent of the funds pumped in provided about 40,000 job opportunities.
In 2017, trade exchange between the two countries recorded USD 200 Bn, which was four times more than the volume recorded in 2014.
Beijing investments in the region hit USD 30 Bn, a record that was brought on by the development of Arab-Chinese relationships in the fields of economy, investment, finance, and banking.
According to an earlier statement by Egypt’s Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade, Amr Nassar, Egypt’s exports to China spiked 60 percent in 2017, along which came USD 408 Mn compared to 2016’s USD 255 Mn.
Nassar said that the government of Egypt is putting hands on deck to turn the country into a commercial and logistic hub. This is in order to enable easy access for Chinese products to Africa and Europe.
April this year, the government of Tianjin and the General Authority of the Economic Zone of the Suez Canal signed a memorandum of understanding to develop the second phase of the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (TEDA).
Investing USD 5 Bn in Egypt’s Suez Canal economic zone, China was advertently providing more than 25,000 jobs via the launch of nine industrial sectors in the TEDA zone.
According to Ali Issa, there are tremendous opportunities in store for increment in Chinese investments in Egypt, as well as trade exchanges between the two countries.
“We at the EBA have long been interested in doing business with China for its tremendous potential and outstanding ability to achieve success,” he told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, a Chinese company is currently building a skyscraper in the North African country’s new administrative capital. Said to have all the makings of Africa’s tallest structure, the 390-meter Iconic Tower is under construction in the new administrative city being built outside of Cairo. The plan for the project shows that the site could eventually have 20 skyscrapers.
Featured Image: Xinhuanet
