The Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, Liao Li Chang, said on Saturday that China plans to increase its investments in Egypt from USD 7 billion to USD15 billion. Mr Li Chang made this known during the inauguration of the 6th Edition of the China-Egypt Trade Fair.

The Fair which commenced on Saturday, 28 September, at the Cairo International Convention Center, serves as a platform to strengthen bilateral economic relations between Cairo and Beijing.

The three-day fair aims to bolster trade relations between Chinese private sector and its Egyptian counterparts while enabling the transfer of Chinese technology to Egypt. 195 Chinese manufacturers booked more than 400 booths to exhibit their products to the Egyptian market at the fair.

The fair further corroborates Beijing’s agreement with the government of Egypt to build an extension of Chinese industrial cluster in Egypt for easy access to consumer markets in Africa and the Middle East. Chinese companies are leveraging the bilateral agreement to sign contracts with local businesses who serve as logistics and distribution partners for exporting Chinese products to Africa and the Middle East.

China has been the largest trade partner and exporter to Egypt for seven consecutive years since 2012 and is doubling down on its capital investments in the Arab nation under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – an ambitious global development and market expansion strategy adopted by the Chinese government involving infrastructure development and capital investments in over 150 countries across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

For the years before 2018, Chinese investments in Egypt totalled more than USD 7 billion. However, in 2018, bilateral trade between both countries reached a record high of USD 13.87 billion, marking an annual increase of 27.06 per cent, according to Chinese state-owned media, Xinhua.

Cairo and Beijing have inked some notable agreements since 2017, including the funding of the electric train project between Salam City and the New Administrative Capital, the signing of a USD 72 million grant on 21 January 2019 for Egypt’s space programme, which is the third grant provided by China to Egypt for a satellite project, and a series of other space cooperations.

Both countries initially signed a grant of USD 23 million given in 2016, and a second grant worth USD 45 million provided in 2018.