Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi stressed his country’s keenness on enhancing coordination and cooperation between developing countries in a manner which ensures the protection of its political, economic, and social interests.
Al-Sisi said on Tuesday during his speech at the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), that Egypt and China are adopting a new and ambitious work plan through the upcoming three years aiming to meet both peoples’ expectations in maintaining stability and prosperity.
“We will enable the environment for sustainable development and overcome today’s challenges through depending on creative solutions that commensurate with our human resources and potentials,” said Al-Sisi.
The president elaborated that solutions include the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the African Agenda 2063, which he described as positive approaches.
The African Agenda 2063 is a framework formulated for the purpose of guiding Africa’s development in the next 50 years, whereas the BRI is a project seeking to expand maritime routes and land infrastructure networks connecting China with Asia, Africa, and Europe, as well as boosting trade and economic growth.
Moreover, Al-Sisi noted that the Suez Canal Economic Zone played a logistic and an economic role, which contributed to developing the international maritime traffic and enhancing global free trade, as well as bolstering investment opportunities in the fields of transport, energy, trade, and infrastructure.
Regarding Egypt’s agenda at the African Union in 2019, Al-Sisi emphasised that enhancing and developing the economic and industrial system are significant top priorities for the Egyptian presidency.
Furthermore, Al-Sisi noted that development is a weapon to confront contemporary political, social, and economic challenges such as extremism, terrorism, organised crime, poverty, and diseases.
Earlier this week, Al-Sisi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, signed five cooperation agreements on industrial quality and productive capacity, as well as a Chinese-funded electric train that will run to Egypt’s planned New Administrative Capital, according to the official news agency MENA.
Chinese direct investments in Egypt are just under $7bn, according to a statement by Han Bing, economic counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Cairo on 4 June to Daily News Egypt. Bing added that Chinese financial institutions injected $5bn into the Egyptian financial market during the past two years.
