Egyptian and Chinese ministers of trade and industry met at the G20-Ministers of Trade meeting on Sunday to finalise the list of high priority projects to be executed.
These projects span the electricity, power, health, and transportation sectors, and approval will be granted tomorrow at the Egyptian-Chinese Ministerial Committee meeting in Beijing.
Gao Hucheng, China’s minister of trade, confirmed his country’s intentions to strengthen its strategic relationship with Egypt, as Egypt is considered one of the most important trade partners in the Middle East and Africa.
Egyptian Minister of Trade Tarek Qabil is preparing President Al-Sisi to participate in the G20 summit that will be held in September to hold discussions with several countries’ presidents who will be participating in the discussions.
Additionally, Qabil asked Hucheng to facilitate and improve the exportation of Egyptian products to the Chinese market, especially agriculture products.
Roberto Azevêdo, director-general of the World Trade Organisation, and Qabil discussed the progress of the Doha Development Round and Qabil assured Azevêdo of Egypt’s commitment to the multilateral trade system.
Qabil also met with the managing director of Shanghai Electric, a Chinese firm that works in electricity generation and water desalination, and discussed plans to develop coal-powered stations in Al-Hamrawyn.
The Egyptian government is willing to reduce the minimum requirements and policies attached for Chinese corporations that are willing to invest in Egypt, Qabil added.
So far, the G20 has been held annually eleven times with the participation of 20 of the world’s governments and leaders of the largest economies to discuss global financial matters.
This year’s participants are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
Egypt is invited to partake in this summit as a guest for the first time since the first summit was held in 2008 following the global financial crisis. The G20 was created in September 1999 after the Asian financial crisis. Chad, Kazakhstan, Laos, Senegal, Spain, and Singapore have all been invited as guests.
With China hosting the summit this year, it will be able to set the agenda of the summit and lead the discussions.
