Egypt, China ink new economic, technical cooperation agreement

This new agreement will make available several development financing grants benefiting Egypt’s priority sectors, pushing forward Egypt’s Vision 2030.

This comes within the framework of the constant development of the joint economic relations between Egypt and China, as well as the strategic development cooperation relations, through which development financing and technical cooperation are provided in order to support Egypt’s development agenda, which is also in line with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Following the signing, El-Mashat held a meeting with the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, where she emphasised the depth of the strategic relations with China as one of Egypt’s most prominent development partners, expressing Egypt’s endeavours to benefit from China’s development experience in order to attract more Chinese investments and to benefit from the Chinese expertise across various fields.

Minister Al-Mashat referred to the fruitful cooperation between both sides to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the Egyptian government's directives from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to provide 10 tonnes of medical equipment and supplies to China, curbing the spread of the virus. This cooperation continues where China provides Egypt with successive batches of the COVID-19 vaccines, as part of the joint efforts to overcome the negative repercussions of the pandemic.

During the meeting, they tackled the implemented projects in Egypt, in cooperation with China. This includes the Egyptian satellite project "Misr Sat II”, and the Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre (AITC). This is in addition to the cooperation to establish a vocational training centre in the economic zone in the Suez Canal Authority Economic Zone, as well as the ongoing projects to develop the transportation sector as one of Egypt’s vital sectors. El-Mashat emphasised the Egyptian government's keenness to support strengthening sustainable infrastructure and to develop smart transportation projects, including the Electric Train project connecting the New Administrative Capital to Greater Cairo and Salam City.

This is in addition to enhancing cooperation in the “Decent Life” presidential initiative that aims to develop and improve the lives of more than half of Egyptians, through developing infrastructure and investing in human capital.

El-Mashat further noted the importance of investing in human capital, as one of the national development plan’s priorities, adding that the successful cooperation between the Ministry of International Cooperation and China in human capital, through which several training programs were organised to enhance the capabilities of the labour force in the government.

The minister expressed her aspiration for expanding the scope of cooperation with China in light of the achievement of Egypt’s Vision 2030 across various fields, including the localisation of the railways industry, increasing local manufacturing, and climate financing. She added that the ministry will coordinate with relevant stakeholders in Egypt to identify the priority projects to benefit from the joint agreement.

For his part, the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, Liao Liqiang, applauded the Egyptian-Chinese joint relations, as Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with China, referring to China’s keenness on passing on its development experience across various sectors to neighbouring countries as Egypt is China’s key partner in the region. He added that China looks forward to Egypt’s participation in the Silk Road initiative to enhance Egyptian-Chinese cooperation within the framework of South-South cooperation.

Liqiang referred to the distinguished relations with Egypt in the health sector, as China has recently provided Egypt’s Ministry of Health with 2 million doses of Sinovac vaccine, to curb the spread of the COVID-19, within the framework of the cooperation between both countries, pointing out to the joint cooperation in vaccine manufacturing, as the vaccination doses provided amount to 3 million doses.

Furthermore, he touched upon the Global Development Initiative proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his speech at the general debate of the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, where he called for a greener and more balanced global development. The Chinese Ambassador pointed out the importance of benefiting from the initiative to achieve development for Egypt and China.

The ongoing portfolio of cooperation with China amounts to $1.8 billion, directed to the implementation of several development projects across various sectors such as health, agriculture, education, technical education, electricity, and many more. Over the span of four years, 1,110 training programs were carried out with China, benefiting more than 4,000 governmental officials, in addition to 25 training programs in high-priority fields, benefiting 300 governmental cadres in the fields of health, agriculture, population, and water resources.