The fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) held in Beijing last month reviewed and summarised the great achievements of China's economic and social development during the 13th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period, raised a set of long-range objectives for China to achieve socialist modernisation by 2035, and clarified the guiding ideology, targets, and strategic measures for national economic and social development during the 14th FYP (2021-2025) period, setting development priorities for China's next five years and drawing a blueprint for the next 15 years. During China's 13th FYP period (2016-2020), the country witnessed remarkable performance. China's economic, technological, and composite strength has risen to a great new stage. Overall economic operations have been stable and smooth, while the economic structure has been continuously optimised. China's contribution to the world economy exceeds 32 per cent, with its per capita GDP exceeding $10,000. Its GDP is expected to exceed 100 trillion Yuan (about $15 trillion) in 2020. China has signed 200 cooperation agreements on jointly building the Belt and Road Initiative with 138 countries and 30 international organisations. It has become the largest trading partner of more than 120 countries and regions, accounting for about 11 per cent of global imports. The 14th FYP period will be the first five years for China to embark on a journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country by entering a new development stage. The communiqué of the fifth plenary session of the 19th Central Committee of the CPC mentioned “reform” and “opening up” more than 20 times, sending out a clear signal that China will remain committed to deepening reform and opening up. China will unswervingly advance on a win-win strategy of opening up, adhere to the new development concept, closely promote high-quality development, and speed up the building of a new pattern of development with the domestic market as the mainstay while the domestic and international markets complement each other. This open “dual circulation” is not meant to close the door to the rest of the world, but to open more and more widely to the outside world at a higher level and to fully unleash the potential of the domestic market. This new development pattern will surely provide more market opportunities for the international community, including the Egyptian business community, and bring more possibilities to expanding practical cooperation between China and Egypt. China will continue to promote consumption in an all-round way, so that the Chinese market will become a market for the world, a shared market and a market accessible to all. The plenum set out six major targets for China's economic and social development in the next five years, including new achievements in economic development, new steps in reform and opening up, new advances in social etiquette and civility, new progress in ecological conservation, new progress in people's well-being, and new improvements in social governance. Twelve key tasks and measures were elaborated in different areas to achieve these targets, including further implementing the strategy of innovation-driven development and promoting scientific and technological openness and cooperation. China will accelerate the development of a modern industrial system, foster new technologies, products, forms of business, and models, and accelerate digital development. China will do its best to enhance infrastructural connectivity and further integrate its industrial, supply and value chains for unimpeded economic circulation through the Belt and Road Initiative. China will accelerate green and low-carbon development, continuously improve the quality and stability of ecosystems, and raise the efficiency of resource utilisation. It is thus clear that China, which has entered a new stage of development with better quality and a higher level of openness, will create more opportunities for Egypt. China-Egypt cooperation will embrace broader prospects. First, there are new opportunities for common development: China and Egypt are comprehensive strategic partners, and each offers the other opportunities for development. Especially against the background of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic, China, as the only major economy in the world to post positive economic growth, and Egypt, the only country in the Middle East and North Africa region to maintain positive economic growth, should further consolidate the good momentum of joint progress and common development between the two countries, continue to provide a strong impetus for regional and global economic recovery, and continue to contribute to world economic development. Second, there are new opportunities for strategic alignment: in recent years, the Belt and Road Initiative and Egypt 2030 Vision for sustainable development have been benignly interacting. Various mechanisms have been running smoothly, and practical cooperation has yielded fruitful results. China and Egypt can continue to enrich and deepen their strategic alignment, add impetus to their economic development, and deliver the benefits of cooperation to their two peoples. Third, there are new opportunities for innovation cooperation: as a responsible country, China is ready to share the dividends of scientific and technological progress with Egypt and other developing countries. China is ready to step up personnel exchanges and cooperation and contribute to the accessibility and affordability of scientific and technological achievements in developing countries. Egypt can give full play to its scientific and technological advantages, gain an in-depth understanding of China's innovation achievements, and translate them into practical applications suited to local demands, injecting new impetus into China-Egypt innovation cooperation in new areas. Fourth, there are new opportunities for industrial cooperation: China has been the most active and fastest-growing source of investment for Egypt in recent years. Chinese enterprises prefer Egypt's unique geographical advantages and are moving more and more production processes to Egypt. In the future, Chinese businesses look forward to working with their Egyptian counterparts to explore new areas such as the digital economy, artificial intelligence, and smart cities. They can surely work together to integrate into the global industrial chain, in other words, to make the “pie” of industrial cooperation even bigger. Fifth, there are new opportunities for exports to China: China has the largest population, the largest consumer market, and the largest consumer group in the world, with vast domestic demand and huge import potential. China's goods imports are estimated to top $22 trillion in the coming decade. Egyptian companies with true entrepreneurship, once they get a grip on the vast market represented by China, will find themselves mastering the “open sesame” for creating wealth. Sixth, there are new opportunities for green cooperation: the Chinese government has always attached great importance to improving the eco-environment and actively combatting desertification, and it has made positive progress. In the future, the two countries can share experience and technology in clean and renewable energy, desertification control, soil-erosion control, seawater desalination, and pollution prevention and control. Hand-in-hand, China and Egypt will make greater contributions to building a more prosperous, cleaner, and more beautiful world.
The writer is minister counsellor for economic and commercial affairs at the Chinese Embassy in Cairo.
*A version of this article appears in print in the 26 November, 2020 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
