President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, during his attendance at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in September, according to Liu Vongfeng, deputy chairperson of mission in Cairo.
During a press conference on the eighth ministerial meeting of the Arab–Chinese Cooperation Forum held Monday, Vongfeng said that Al-Sisi and Xi will meet to discuss the strengthening of bilateral relations and a new plan to support China-Egypt cooperation in the coming years.
Vongfeng noted that China hopes that the presidential meeting will end with fruitful results for Egypt and China.
She pointed out that the Chinese president has made clear that Egypt is one of the major countries in the African continent and the Arab world, as well as its importance within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
She elaborated that China is ranked sixth among the countries most invested in the Egyptian market last year, compared to 15th place in 2016, according to data from the Central Bank of Egypt.
“The total loans of the Chinese Development Bank to Egypt amounted to $5bn, during the last period,” Vongfeng said, adding, “there are talks to export grapes, pomegranates, and dates to the Chinese market this year and next year, especially after the success of orange exports last year.”
In a related context, Vongfeng added that the volume of trade between China and the Arab countries reached $191.35bn last year, five times more than what has been achieved, since the establishment of the Arab–Chinese Cooperation Forum in 2004.
She pointed out that China is the second largest economic partner to the Arab countries, and the first largest economic partner for 10 Arab countries. Moreover, there are 12 Arab countries that have signed the BRI.
