Egypt-China Cooperation in North-West Suez Gulf

Investment Minister Mahmoud Mohieldin met with the Mayor of Chinese Tianjin Municipality, Huang Xingguo with his escorting delegation, which includes top Tianjin officials. They discussed means and ways of enhancing cooperation and pushing work in the North-West Suez Gulf Economic Zone.

This comes as the Chinese Egypt-Teda, a Chinese government-owned company affiliated to Tianjin, won the international tender for the partial development of the economic zone in cooperation with the Ministry of Investment's General Authority for the Economic Zone.

The Tianjin mayor pointed to the Chinese government’s interest in pushing work forward in the zone and its preparedness to extend all forms of support and assistance in order to have the zone upgraded.

Earlier, the Chinese government okayed a $20-million grant to set up an investors' service building at the zone, which is currently under way and expected to open in mid-2010.

The North-West Suez Gulf Economic Zone home for nearly 20 companies and plants operating in different fields, is attracting an increasing number of Chinese investors Minister Mohieldin said work is underway to finish all the procedures related to pushing the work forward at the zone which is seen as an example for the Egyptian-Chinese rapprochement. The zone draws great attention from political leaders in Egypt and China thanks to its investment attractiveness and contribution to creating job opportunities. This reflects positively on the Egyptian economy as a whole.

The minister said China is one of the top important investment and trade partners with Egypt. Bilateral trade grew and China's investments in Egypt climbed. China contributes to the capital of 865 Egyptian companies, more than 80% of which was registered during the past five years. This qualifies China to become one of the largest investors in Egypt in the coming five years, he added.

Minister Mohieldin also met with top state officials and investment institutions, in addition to attending symposiums about the environment of investment in Egypt and the available opportunities.

He invited the Tianjin mayor to participate in the Nov. Chinese-African Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh – seen as an important economic occasion where participants can exchange expertise and push forward Egyptian-Chinese-African cooperation. Xingguo said the municipality would attend the event with a high-ranking delegation.