Chinese and Egyptian companies signed a number of trade deals worth nearly 170 million U.S. dollars on Monday during the “Export to China” trade matchmaking event in Cairo.
Egypt hopes to build on the event to foster longer-term cooperation with China, strengthen economic and trade exchanges and further advance bilateral trade relations, said Sayed Fouad, commercial minister plenipotentiary and director of the Asia Department at the Egyptian Commercial Service, affiliated with Egypt’s Ministry of Investment and Foreign Trade.
“At a time when protectionist measures are increasing worldwide, China has chosen, in a bold step, to continue opening its markets to Africa,” said Mohamed Kassem, chairman of the Egyptian Exporters Association, adding that the move creates a real opportunity for Egyptian exporters to strengthen their competitiveness in the vast Chinese market.
Chang Hui, deputy director general of the Department of Foreign Trade at China’s Ministry of Commerce, said that the Egypt session of the “Export to China” matchmaking events marks the first stop of the series in Africa.
Organizing the “Export to China” matchmaking events is a vivid example of China’s efforts to expand high-standard opening-up and promote balanced trade, Chang said, noting that the initiative also represents China’s efforts to share the dividends of development with its trading partners and firmly uphold the multilateral trading system and free trade.
Zhao Liuqing, minister counselor at the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, said China-Egypt ties are at their best in history, with pragmatic economic and trade cooperation serving as an anchor and driving force for bilateral relations.
Starting May 1 this year, China implemented a zero-tariff policy on imports from all 53 African countries with which it has diplomatic relations, a move that has received a positive response from many African countries, including Egypt.
“Thanks to this policy, Egypt’s exports to China increased by 67.5 percent in the first half of this year,” Zhao said, adding that more Egyptian products are expected to gain access to the Chinese market.
The event was co-organized by the Trade Development Bureau of China’s Ministry of Commerce and the Egyptian Exporters Association, and was attended by about 170 businesspeople and company representatives, as well as trade officials and diplomats from both sides.