Egypt does not want all its energy deals to be restricted to European and U.S. corporations like Siemens and General Electric, said Ibrahim Nawwar, economics expert and former spokesman of the Egyptian industry and foreign trade ministry.
Egypt wants to learn from China’s amazing economic development experience, Nawwar told Xinhua.
“There are investment opportunities in various fields in Egypt that should attract the attention of Chinese investors,” he said, describing the Chinese development experience as “so amazing that we closely and attentively examine and want to copy here in Egypt.”
After four years of political turmoil, Egypt is telling the world it’s heading towards economic growth. The country recently wrapped up its Egypt Economic Development Conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, attended by about 90 countries including some heads of state, 25 organizations and global institutions.
The conference resulted in investment deals from European, Arab countries and China worth billions of dollars, Xinhua reports.
Nawwar said Chinese investments in Egypt can create a kind of balance to limit the monopoly of foreign investments in the country by European, U.S. and Arab corporations.
“Egypt represents a very important key for Chinese investments and trade in Africa,” Nawwar said.
Egypt is currently working on huge national projects, including expansion of the Suez Canal with plans to develop its surrounding region later by establishing ship service projects and industrial cities worth billions of dollars.
Chinese corporations have already been establishing a Chinese industrial area northeast of the Suez Gulf, expecting the project to continue as part of the main Suez Canal Corridor development project, Nawwar said.
“The Chinese have great opportunities to invest in the Suez Canal Corridor, as it will represent a close center for their exports into Europe, Africa and the Middle East region,” he said, suggesting a future Chinese project to establish a railway line to link between Egypt and (South Africa.)
Growing stability in Egypt has lured more Chinese companies to open branches in Egypt, Xinhua reports. Chinese companies are planning future investments with the Egyptian government.
China Gezhouba Group opened an Egyptian branch in late 2014.
“Egypt sees increasing political and social stability, and its economy is recovering after years of chaos. So, there are great opportunities for foreign investors here in various fields such as electric power, renewable energy, transportation and road construction,” said Mao Guohua, a deputy manager there, according to Xinhua.
The Egyptian government worked to reduce bureaucracy by issuing a new Unified Investment Law and initiated a one-stop-window system that allows businesses to be established in Egypt within a few days.