SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Egypt is not concerned about a possible threat to the local market posed by cheap Chinese goods, the country’s trade minister said, stressing the importance of the free market.
Prior to addressing the opening session of the third Forum for China-Africa Cooperation, Minister of Trade Rachid Mohamed Rachid fielded questions related to the Chinese industrial zones established in Tenth of Ramadan and near the city of Suez, and future trade goals with China.
Daily News Egypt questioned the minister about the emerging paradigm of South-South investment, the need for Egyptian children to learn Chinese, and comparisons between Indian and Chinese investment in Egypt.
Daily News Egypt: Some commentators, particularly in the US and Europe, have criticized Chinese investment in Africa as neo-colonialist. Others say it represents a new paradigm of South-South. How would you define the relationship of China to Africa?
Rachid: First, we need to define the role of China. It’s the number three economy in the world. Over the next 20 years competition between the US and China will continue to increase.
China is a source of natural resources itself, but is looking for additional resources to meet the needs of its growing economy.
Thus, China’s interest in Africa is legitimate. They came to Africa and openly stated their interests. Europe has occupied Africa for hundreds of years, and the US has a long history of involvement in Africa; both have profited from these relationships, yet often with minimal benefit for Africa.
China is willing to interact with Africa in such a way that promotes a win-win equation.
For what other reasons is Chinese investment in Africa preferable to aid from the US or Europe?
Chinese investment involves a deeper level of engagement. China is closer to the African market. All aid programs from the US or Europe are conducted at arms’ length. For example, they’ll send $10 billion for some development project or other. But China comes into the country and asks local governments what their communities need most.
They change their strategy depending on the specifics of each location. This is not to imply that all Chinese investment projects are perfect. However, they are generally better tailored to the situation on the ground and are often executed more quickly than aid projects.
In speaking with delegates at the forum, several have cited the challenging language barrier. Do you think Egyptian children, and African children in general, ought to be learning Chinese?
They are: the first Chinese school recently opened in Egypt. There are already many Egyptians studying Chinese, as well as many Chinese people learning Arabic. Of course, the cultural barrier between China and Egypt is higher than between Europe and Egypt, as a result of history. But learning each other’s languages will help to overcome this.
India represents another emerging superpower. Last week Egypt signed an agreement with India to establish an Indian industrial zone in Egypt. How would you compare Egypt’s relationship with each of these Asian economic giants?
The relationship is very different. Egypt’s level of trade with China, [$6 billion] is much higher than with India [$3 billion]. And it is becoming more significant.
Egypt recently signed another trade agreement with China, and today we signed an agreement to further regulate the quality of Chinese imports. We expect to see the amount of trade with China increase to $10 billion in the next three years.
