Diplomat underlines importance of visit

Chinese Ambassador to Cairo Song Aikou said that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will deliver a speech at the Brix summit on Sunday in which Egypt will participate. He added that Chinese businessmen and others will participate in the forum and listen to the Sisi speech, adding that Sisi will attend bilateral talks with the Chinese president.

He added, during an interview with “Arabs Today”, that Sisi's presence in the dialogue between the emerging and developed markets will allow Egypt to participate in the global dialogue, and the international community will know its importance and encourage it to attract foreign investment. He added that the summit will include dialogue between emerging and developing markets.

He stressed that t the relations between Egypt and China witnessed a development in the era of the Chinese and Egyptian presidents. He stressed that the strong relations are reflected in the exchange of visits between them to and from Qahlara and Beijing, reflecting the interest of both sides in developing relations between them and their cohesion.

Regarding the Chinese investments in Egypt, the diplomat said that Chinese companies in Egypt are increasing and the volume of investment of companies reached 6.8 billion US dollars, and these investments are mostly in recent years, considering that this is evidence of the growth of the relationship despite some obstacles.

He added, “The most important thing for investors is the availability of a favorable investment environment and we are pleased to see some economic reform measures such as the investment law that will help attract more foreign investment to Egypt.”

He added that many Chinese companies are looking at investment opportunities in Egypt and we hope Egyptian markets will be more open to foreign investments. He called on the Egyptian government to facilitate the investment environment, stressing that the economic measures taken in the past period are very encouraging.

He praised the decision taken by the Egyptian government to build a new administrative capital, saying that the construction of the administrative capital is very important as it includes all fields and there are Chinese companies looking at the possibility of participating in the projects in the new administrative capital, noting that some major Chinese companies are discussing with the Egyptian side now cooperation.

On the tourist movement between Egypt and China, Ambassador Aikou said that the number of Chinese tourists in 2010 reached about 100 thousand tourists, but reached in 2014 to 68 thousand tourists in 2015 to 130 thousand tourists and in 2016 reached 180 thousand and will increase in 2017