Unburdened by historical baggage when it comes to this region, China may well be the best future partner for Arabs in this century, writes Ibrahim Nafie Three days ago, the Egyptian minister of industry and trade told the People's Assembly's Economic Committee that China would be Egypt's main economic partner by 2015, urging both the government and the business sector to support this trend. Egypt is keeping an open mind about its economic interests, the minister indicated. Although conventionally our biggest partners are Europe and the US, we're exploring new possibilities, most of which exist in Asia. China is the third largest trading power in the world. Analysts often cite China due to the spectacular growth in its exports, which topped $960 billion last year. But many forget that China is also a major importer, with $800 billion in imports last year. And both imports and exports are growing at a whopping 20 per cent annually. Should this trend continue, China would become the world's top trading power within the coming few years. China is remarkable also in the ratio of trade to its national economy. Its external trade constitutes 70 per cent of its GDP. Compare this with an average of 25 per cent in other major countries, including the US. Egypt and the rest of the world want a piece of that action. Gulf states are already ahead in this game, and the visit to China by the Saudi king last year is quite telling. The minister further told the Economic Committee that Egypt plans to create free trade zones to attract Chinese capital and create local jobs. Chinese-European cooperation, he noted, has reached a point where Chinese goods heading to Europe through the Suez Canal were expected to grow from 60 per cent at present to 90 per cent soon. This development would not only increase Suez Canal revenue but also make it steadier. As China becomes richer, there will be more Chinese tourists travelling abroad. Experts say that the total number of Chinese tourists is going to reach 100 million soon, and Egypt hopes to attract one million or two of those. The minister pointed out that China would be in a position to offer Egypt advanced technology at a cost 30-40 per cent lower than equivalent European and American technology. In its drive to secure sources of energy, China is boosting its cooperation with Africa, as was evident during the Chinese-African summit President Hosni Mubarak attended in Beijing late last year. Such a development could lead to increased cooperation between Egypt and China. The good news about China is that it doesn't have the same historic baggage and political hang-ups about this region as Europe or the US does. So the road to cooperation appears for the moment to be trouble-free.
