Egypt, China Vow to Expand Economic, Trade Cooperation

Egypt, China Vow to Expand Economic, Trade Cooperation

Egypt and China wrapped up the fourth session of their Joint Economic and Trade Committee Thursday with the signing of a trade contract and two agreements on setting up joint ventures.

The Egyptian side chairman on the committee, Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Youssef Boutros Ghali, said at the closing ceremony that the two sides reached consensus on expanding cooperation in economic, trade and investment areas.

Ghali described the meetings as "important and successful," as they have "helped opening up new fields of cooperation in economy and trade" between the two countries. He expressed confidence that this session would "mark the fresh starting point in the countries' cooperative relations."

Chairman on the Chinese side, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng, said the committee session has "outlined concrete steps to carry out agreements reached between leaders of the two countries on promoting cooperation."

"I believe this session will help develop the bilateral ties, especially the economic and trade relations," Shi said, adding that it would help correct the trade imbalance and increase the trade volume.

The Chinese minister called for amelioration of Egypt's investment environment in order to attract more Chinese investments.

At the end of the closing ceremony, Egypt's Al-Hassana Marble Processing Company signed an agreement with China Nonferrous Metal Industry's Foreign Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd. for joint investment of US$22 million to set up a factory in Egypt for recycling lead from disused accumulators. The Egyptian company signed another deal with Xiamen General Trading Co. Ltd of China to cooperate in marble mining and processing in Egypt.

China's Minnmetals International Non-Ferrous Metals Trading Corporation signed a deal with an Egyptian company to import a total of 25,000 tons of steel.