China’s President lands in Cairo today to sign vital agreements
Egyptian summits in Uganda and Addis Ababa
El-Sisi speech before the parliament
By Rania Imam
President “Xi Jinping” of China is to land in Cairo on top of a high-profile delegation on Wednesday in a 2-day-visit, according to diplomatic sources. The Egyptian President and his Chinese counterpart are to hold a summit to discuss enhancing the mutual cooperation in different sectors; regional and international issues of joint interest on top of which are the situation in Iraq, Palestine, Libya, and Yemen; and joint anti-terrorist efforts. It is expected as well that a number of agreements will be signed during the visit.
It is decided that both countries will discuss boosting cooperation in different areas; especially economic and industrial cooperation which moved to a whole new level following the 25th January Revolution, as the Egyptian exports to China amounted to 65Per cent, new Chinese investments were channeled to Egypt, and the size of trading reached $9bn. In addition, they will discuss several projects in the fields of electricity, renewable energy, agriculture, investments, environment, culture, transport, communications and information technology (ICT), education, tourism, aviation, and military cooperation.
A kick-start
The Egyptian-Chinese relations will witness a kick-start with the visit of China’s president to Cairo from 20-22 January which is considered the first of its kind since 12 years. The visit comes in coincidence with the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between both countries.
Diplomatic sources reported that President “Xi Jinping” will be accompanied by a huge delegation of major Chinese corporations interested in the Egyptian market; which represents an opportunity to establish a new Egyptian-Chinese business partnership, positively influencing the mutual economic cooperation.
A number of projects are to be discussed with the Chinese delegation during the visit; including a national project to provide sewage services to 264 villages in Monufia and Gharbia; and 1077 villages in Upper-Egypt. Moreover, the final agreements on establishing the first phase of the New Capital project will be signed; including establishing government buildings, huge conference centre, a building for international fairs, and 15,000 residential units.
Both sides will hold talks as well on energy projects; the Suez Canal with the aim of establishing new projects in the economic zone of the canal; and satellite projects.
During the visit, two Memoranda of Understanding (MOU) are due to be signed with the Export credit Guarantee Agency and the Export-Import Bank of China as part of the joint financial cooperation project that targets funding the Egyptian-Chinese power projects.
It is decided as well, as reported by the diplomatic sources, that the visit will witness signing a number of agreements on joint development projects in transport, training, E-education, anti-desertification, infrastructure and space science fields. The Egyptian-Chinese business forum will also convene during the visit and a fair for ultra-tech Chinese products in the new and renewable energy domains will be held. Sources pointed out that vast investment opportunities are available to Chinese investors in Egypt, especially the mega national projects due to be carried out by the country in the coming period; the leather, building materials, petrochemical products, and communications projects.
Moreover, the 2 presidents will be launching The Chinese-Egyptian cultural year as a mean to intensify the already strong cultural and strategic ties.
Energy
There will be mutual cooperation over a number of electricity and renewable energy projects; including setting up a 2100 megawatt pumped-storage hydropower plant in Ataka Mount, 2 coal-fired power plants near Hamrawein with a capacity of 1980 megawatt, and 2640 megawatt.
Suez Canal
Talks with the Chinese delegation include contributing to the financing and implementation of projects in the Suez Canal Economic Zone, according to diplomatic sources which stressed the importance of identifying the key technical expertise and technology needed for the zone in order to make the best out of the technical assistance, and exchanged international expertise; achieve the goals of sustainable development; create job opportunities; train calibers; and improve the living standards of citizens.
The Egyptian side will show the Chinese delegation the possibility of achieving such goals through the Chinese grants; especially when it comes to the ICT and infrastructure projects.
It was agreed to establish a labour-intensive industrial zone for sports products that combines Egyptian labour force and Chinese expertise and machinery to produce high-quality products, and make use of the distinct location and available facilities in the area. Ministry of International Cooperation and Suez Canal Economic Zone are currently working on providing support for the development programmes and projects; as they reached an agreement on the initial proposition that will be put forward for discussion with the Chinese partners and enlisted among the projects that are currently under consideration to be signed during the visit.
Silk Road
The opening of the visit will witness China’s participation in projects for building and operating satellites, and railway projects in New Capital; and initiative for reviving the historical Silk Road.
Chairman of the General Authority of the Economic Zone of Suez Canal “Nasser Fouad” convened with officials from The China-Africa Development Fund to discuss financing the investments that will be established in the Economic Zone; especially since the investments are expected to mount up to $2bn.
Training Center
During the Chinese President visit several agreements will be signed; including an agreement to establish a training centre in Suez Canal area with the aim of training and producing highly-skilled labours to cover the needs of the Egyptian market, said “ Fouad”, adding that it is planned to establish heavy industries area, which requires the presence of a number of high skilled workers.
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation
“Fouad” said that The China-Africa Development Fund is one of the positive outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and it aims at helping the Chinese corporations to invest in Africa. The Fund has managed so far to support more than 80 projects in 35 countries with a total of $3.2bn; including projects on infrastructure, power generation, and agriculture, among others.
He pointed out that these projects are expected to attract $16-billion-dollar Chinese investments to Africa, create million job opportunity, increase export revenues by $2bn, and generate 1b-billion-dollar tax revenues.
Directions of “El-Sisi”
President “El-Sisi” has directed Engineer “Sherif Ismail” to the importance of proper preparation of the projects that will presented before the Chinese delegation during the visit in a way that would contribute to achieving a quantum leap in the Chinese-Egyptian already strong ties.
Moreover, President “El-Sisi” held meetings with Ministers of Housing, International Cooperation, and Energy to review the preparations for the profiles to be discussed with the Chinese delegation.
It is expected as well that the President will visit the House of Representatives on 26 or 27 January to give his first speech to the parliament, and the cabinet is due to put forward its programme on the Parliament early February.
The President will visit Kampala, Capital of Uganda, on 28 January as part of an African tour during which he will meet with his Ugandan counterpart “Yoweri Museveni” to discuss enhancing mutual cooperation in all fields, most importantly the economic area, according to diplomatic sources. The visit will witness signing an agreement to establish the first logistical centre for Egyptian exports in Uganda.
Finally, “El-Sisi” will travel to Addis Ababa, Capital of Ethiopia, to attend the 23rd African Union Summit that will be held from 29 to 31January.
