Wang Fengru, chairman of the Golden Bridge China World International Travel Services Company, has been working in tourism for 26 years and had never been to Egypt until last week when he accompanied a 50-strong delegation of top Chinese companies in Cairo to discuss investment opportunities. Fengru addressed the Egypt-China Economic Cooperation Forum organised by Al-Ahram on Thursday in Cairo. The Chinese delegation was headed by Wu Baocai, vice-president of the China Economic Cooperation Centre, Sui Zhengjiang, vice-mayor of Beijing, and Song Aiguo, ambassador of China in Egypt. China produced 120 million outbound tourists in 2015 who together spent some $100 billion on goods and services abroad. But Egypt's share of that was less than 0.01 per cent, Ahmed al-Naggar, board chairman of Al-Ahram, told participants at the Forum. Fengru said he intended to change that, adding that after seeing Egypt first-hand he intended to make greater efforts to promote tourism to Egypt when he returned to China. A trip for the representatives of 100 tourism agencies in China would be organised to Egypt, and Fengru said he would open a branch of his company in Egypt. Al-Naggar lamented not only Egypt's minimal share of Chinese tourists, but also of Chinese investments abroad at the Forum. While figures show Chinese worldwide investments reached $90 billion in the first six months of 2016 alone, official statistics for Egypt show Chinese investments in the country were only around $500 million. However, the latter figure is estimated at around $6 billion in reality as many of the companies investing in Egypt may not be headquartered in China but are Chinese. Al-Naggar said that Egypt could attract greater Chinese investments, pointing to the availability of manpower, the cheap currency and multiple free-trade agreements with various economic blocs through which Chinese investors can access other markets. All these things made Egypt a good investment destination, he said. Expressing his admiration for the strength of the Chinese economy, Al-Naggar said it had grown on the backs of the efforts of its own people and peaceful access to markets. He called on the international market to reflect the strength of the Chinese economy and not to continue to be dependent on the US dollar. 2016 marks 60 years of Egyptian-Chinese relations, and throughout their visit the Chinese officials and businessmen acknowledged Egypt as an important partner in the region. “Businessmen are a driving force for strengthening the relationship between the two countries,” said Sui Zhengjiang, vice-mayor of Beijing. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi has paid multiple visits to China, while Chinese president Xi Jinping paid a historic visit to Egypt in early 2016. The two countries are also cooperating on the “One Belt One Road” (OBOR) initiative launched by China in 2013. This is the modern version of the ancient Silk Roads, a network of trade routes that linked China to Central Asia and the Arab world from the mediaeval period onwards. The “One Belt One Road” strategy complements Egypt's strategy to develop the Suez Canal Area Development Project, Song Aiguo, ambassador of China in Egypt, told participants at the Forum. The Suez Canal area was a natural part of the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road creating connections among waterways in the OBOR. The OBOR was also a network for development and not just transportation, said former Egyptian prime minister Essam Sharaf. He said it was a form of “friendly globalisation,” unlike the current form of sometimes aggressive globalisation “Relations between our two countries go beyond the 60 years of recent history and are as old as the civilisations of the Chinese and the Arabs,” Sharaf said. During the Forum, Egyptian officials spoke of possible investment opportunities in the wake of the OBOR initiative, and they were eager to grow relations beyond trade exchanges as has been the case in the past. Trade between Egypt and China now amounts to $12 billion per year, $11 billion of which is in the form of imports from China. Hisham Al-Demiri, head of the Egyptian Tourism Development Authority, spoke of Egypt's desire to increase the number of flights to various destinations in China in order to encourage more tourists to come to Egypt. He said entry visas upon arrival for tourist groups had been introduced to facilitate the entry of Chinese tourists and spoke of the marketing campaign launched in China to attract Chinese tourists to Egypt. Saad Nassar, advisor to the Egyptian minister of agriculture, spoke of possible investment opportunities in the agricultural sector, pointing to projects already underway such as the 1.5 million feddans land reclamation project, investments in fisheries, and 100,000 greenhouses. He said that special privileges could be granted to investors in the agricultural sector, especially in Upper Egypt. Land with infrastructure in Upper Egypt would be made available to investors free of charge and national agricultural production projects would be exempt from taxes for five years, he said. Mohamed Al-Sobki, head of the Egyptian New and Renewable Energy Authority, also spoke of Egypt's plans to increase the share of clean energy production to 20 per cent by 2022 and 35 per cent by 2030.
