China, Egypt sign deals to boost ties
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CHINA signed a raft of economic deals with Egypt yesterday during a visit by President Xi Jinping, including US$1.7 billion in loans to the banking sector.
After arriving late on Wednesday from Saudi Arabia, Xi held talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and was scheduled to address the Cairo-based Arab League.
State television broadcast the live signing of the agreements at a presidential palace in Cairo in the presence of the two leaders.
“The two sides have agreed to undertake 15 projects ... mainly in sectors like electricity, transport and infrastructure,” Xi said in a joint statement with Sisi.
“The total investment in these projects is US$15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt,” he said.
Sisi said the agreements were the “best evidence of the two countries’ determination to improve their levels of cooperation.”
Heralding an era of closer political and economic ties, officials from the two countries signed 21 agreements that could see China significantly ramp up investments in the most populous Arab country.
The deals span several infrastructure investments, from power generation to the first phase of a new Egyptian administrative capital unveiled last year. They also include a US$1 billion financing deal for Egypt’s central bank and a US$700 million loan to state-owned National Bank of Egypt.
Egypt has been battling to restore growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in a period of political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors.
China’s US$1 billion loan could help bolster the central bank’s foreign reserves, which have more than halved since 2011 as it battles to defend the currency against downward pressure.
Meeting Egyptian President Sisi, Xi said China and Egypt had developed a deep friendship based on mutual respect and expressed China’s backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.
“What path a country or people chooses cannot be separated from historical and cultural traditions or the reality of economic development,” Xi said.
“China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices,” and also in “playing an active role in regional and international affairs,” he said.
As well as addressing the Arab League, Xi was scheduled to visit Egypt’s newly convened parliament, which was sworn in earlier this month.
He was also set to visit the famed temple city of Luxor later yesterday to attend celebrations marking six decades of diplomatic relations between Cairo and Beijing.
His visit to Luxor is also seen as an attempt to attract Chinese tourists to Egypt, whose economy is heavily dependent on revenue from the tourism sector.
Xi’s tour, his first to the Middle East as president, will take him next to Iran.
In Saudi Arabia — China’s biggest global supplier of crude — he met with King Salman and oversaw the opening of a joint-venture oil refinery in the Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea.
The Saudi Press Agency said the two countries decided to establish a “comprehensive strategic partnership.”
During his visit to Riyadh, Xi had been expected to seek to help ease tensions between Saudi Arabia, the region’s main Sunni power, and Shiite rival Iran.
Xi is expected to arrive in Iran today, just days after the lifting of sanctions on the country.
China, the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Russia reached a deal with Iran in July to curtail its nuclear activities in exchange for ending international sanctions.
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