TEDA-Suez zone provides 40K job opportunities: Chinese Consul

CAIRO - 9 June 2018: China seeks to build the Egyptian-Chinese industrial zone in Ain Sokhna (TEDA) as Tianjin, one of the largest Chinese port city is expected to provide more than 40,000 job opportunities, said Chinese Consul in Alexandria Xu Nanshan to Egypt Today.

The TEDA-Suez zone will serve the Belt and Road Initiative as a major international logistics service-provider, he said, adding that Egypt is a key member in the initiative.

The Chinese megaproject in Suez Canal is evidence of the strength of the Egyptian-Chinese relations during President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi’s tenure, he said.

The Egyptian-Chinese industrial zone in Ain Sokhna (TEDA) is planned to include a motorbike company, a textiles city and a logistics center, Economic and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Cairo Han Ping said in previous statements.

The TEDA-Suez zone is planned to span over 7.34 kilometer squares, with the first phase already completed.

Egypt is a big importer of Chinese products and China is keen to export Egyptian vegetables, he continued, noting that Egyptian Investment Law, which was enacted last year, attracted many foreign investments.

It has been agreed that Alexandria governorate will buy 15 eco-friendly buses from China, Xu Nanshan said, adding that a new agreement will be reached between Alexandria Port Authority and a number of Chinese companies to build a new port.

As for the tourism sector, Xu Nanshan said that more than 50,000 Chinese tourists visited Egypt over the past year.

In December 2014, Sisi signed a comprehensive strategic partnership agreement with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, including three cooperation agreements in the fields of economy and technical cooperation. Sisi and Jinping exchanged several visits since then.

Egypt ranked 52nd in the list of China's largest trading partners in 2016, according to the latest statistics released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

Economic relations between Cairo and Beijing are deemed strong. The volume of trade exchange between Egypt and China recorded $5.178 billion from January to June 2017.

China's exports to Egypt decreased by 20.79 percent on a year-on-year basis to $4.518 billion, while Chinese imports from Egypt increased by 298.37 percent to reach $660 million.

Additional reporting by Hanaa Abu el-Ezz