CAIRO: China is continuing its push into Africa and Egypt is quickly becoming the best next option for the cheap labor that has come to represent the “made in China” label. Now, with efforts by the Chinese-owned Nile Textile Factory, that label is beginning to read “made in Egypt.” In the Port Said free zone, the Chinese company is hiring some 600 workers and 80 percent of these new employees are Egyptian. With low local salaries, cheap raw materials and an increasingly easy and accessible export market, Egypt is China's top outsourcing destination. According to the company, Egypt is a great deal, where 60 percent of the imports are tax free and the products produced can be quickly sent abroad through the QIZ agreements with the United States and Israel. “Egyptian free zones allow for export all over the world with almost no restrictions,” said Mohammed Abdel Samie, the industrial estate's administrative director, in comments published by Channel News Asia. But, what does this increased presence in Egypt mean for the country and its people? China is looking toward the fourth ministerial conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) this month as an opportunity to continue to bolster its African presence, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Chunhua said in a an interview with the country's Xinhua news agency. The ambassador believes the conference can be used to expand the Asian country's already growing footprint on the continent. The fourth meeting of FOCAC is scheduled for November at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. “The conference will be held to comprehensively evaluate the achievements after the Beijing summit of the FOCAC in 2006 and draw up a plan on China-Africa cooperation for the next three years,” Wu told Xinhua. “Africa is a continent full of hope and potential,” Wu said. “It is to the benefit of China and Africa to maintain and further advances bilateral ties.” Analysts and observers of economic trends believe China's continued efforts in Africa are beginning to pay off. One analyst told BM recently that China's use of a development plan that expects profit is part of what continues to give them success in Africa. “Unlike throwing money at the situation, China is able to actually make money while doing things in countries that benefit people,” the African expert said, asking that their name remain anonymous. Xinhua states that the FOCAC was jointly proposed and established by China and more than 40 African countries in 2000. It consists of meetings at three levels: the ministerial conference, senior officials meeting, and talks between the Chinese Follow-up Committee of the Forum and the African Diplomatic Mission in Beijing. The first ministerial conference was held in Beijing in October 2000. The second was held in Addis Ababa, capital of Ethiopia, in December 2003 and the third in Beijing in November 2006. BM
