Commercial International Bank (CIB) – Egypt's largest private sector bank, has been selected by Bank of China to represent Africa as the leading bank in the African market to join the "One Belt One Road" initiative. The initiative showcases China's ambitious land-based and maritime trade routes across Asia, Europe and Africa to create closer economic and trade links among 65 countries, with an anticipated trade volume exceeding US$2.5 trillion over the next decade. During a two-day seminar held in Beijing last June, CIB and Bank of China signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) regarding strategic cooperation under the "One Belt One Road", the Egyptian bank said in a statement on Sunday. The MOU aims at partnering with the top banks to back the initiative's implementation phases and provide the adequate, premium financial and banking services and products that will be supporting the limitless opportunities generated by this Chinese initiative. In this regard, Bank of China has selected the leading banks of the three continents of Europe, Asia and Africa. Commenting on the "One Belt, One Road" MOU, Hisham Ezz Al-Arab, CIB Chairman and Managing Director said, "Being the only Egyptian and African bank selected for partnering with Bank of China in this enthusiastic initiative indicates CIB's distinctive, leading position and reputation in the banking market and reflects the profound trust of foreign partners in the Bank's competencies and proficiencies, on both regional and international levels. The Chinese initiative will be shaping a new prism of the world economy and capitalizing on the expected sizeable opportunities. We are proud to support this strategic plan." It's worth mentioning that the "One Belt, One Road" is a collective term for the initiatives of "Silk Road Economic Belt" and "21st Century Maritime Silk Road", which were proposed by the Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Central Asia (Kazakhstan) and South East Asia (Indonesia) in 2013. The Silk Road Economic Belt is to extend through several corridors over Asia and Europe, while the Maritime Silk Road is to include infrastructure projects that lie in South Asia, East Africa, and the Northern Mediterranean Sea. The One Belt One Road initiative is expected to feature prominently in China's 13th Five-Year Plan, which will run from 2016 to 2020.
