65 years of relations: Ambassador Liqiang says China is Egypt’s largest trade partner

CAIRO – 27 May 2021: Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Liao Liqiang on Thursday marked the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the Egyptian-Chinese relations, saying China is Egypt’s largest trade partner.

In a press conference, Liqiang said the trade volume between Egypt and China reached $14.5 billion.

He noted that trade exchange in the first quarter of 2021 rose by 31 percent to reach 4.18 billion.

The direct investments between Egypt and China in 2020 reached $190 million, Liqiang said, noting that total Chinese investments in Egypt reached $1.2 billion.

In Q1 2021, direct investments between the two countries were almost doubled to reach $83 million.

Liqiang said the Egyptian-Chinese relations in all fields, including economy and trade, have seen progress.

Cooperation in the fields of energy, space, information technology, communication, mining and petrochemicals also saw a huge progress, the ambassador noted.

During the pandemic, the cooperation projects between the two countries regularly grew, including in the Suez Canal zone, the New Administrative Capital and the railway project in the 10th of Ramadan city.

There is also cooperation in other new projects, including the establishment of five tall residential buildings in the New Alamein City and the electric car project in Egypt.

Liqiang noted that in 2018, Egypt has become among the top five tourist destinations in Africa for Chinese tourists. In that year, the number of tourists from China reached half a million, he said.

The ambassador said these bilateral ties between Egypt and China are a model to follow as they are characterized by cooperation, solidarity, mutual benefit and common gains.

Thanks to China, Egypt received its first batch of the coronavirus vaccine doses in December. The first shipment constituted 50,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Egypt then contracted to receive millions of Sinopharm doses as it has started its vaccination campaign in January.

Egypt also signed an agreement with China’s Sinovac to locally produce their vaccine so that it covers local needs and export extra amounts to Africa.

As per the agreement, Egypt is planning to produce 40 million vaccine doses in the first year.