Liu Liange, president of the Export and Import Bank of China (China Exim Bank) is expected to visit Egypt in December, heading a financial delegation from China to Egypt, Han Bing, Minister counsellor for economic affairs at the Chinese embassy in Cairo, told Daily News Egypt. "The aim of the future visit is to discuss boosting financial cooperation with Egypt. In addition, discussions will be held regarding Chinese financial institutions' role in supporting local banks and Egypt's financial system. I hope a new agreement will be signed," mentioned Han. Earlier in November, Han said that from the beginning of this year, financial cooperation with Egypt is doing great, adding that China's Development Bank (CDB) has signed two new contracts with the National Bank of Egypt (NBE) worth $600m while the other contract is with Afreximbank. Han added that the Chinese financial institutions signed contracts worth of $7bn with their Egyptian counterparts, noting that loans in yuan to the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) are positively developed within the currency swap agreements signed in 2016. Furthermore, Han declared that Chinese financial institutions are always keen on bilateral visits to Egypt for joint discussions, noting that a delegation from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) recently paid a successful visit to Egypt in November. The AIIB delegation visited the New Administrative Capital, and reviewed the investment opportunities, and also visited the solar power projects in Aswan's Benban, praising the great investment opportunities in the SCZone, according to a past statement of the ministry of investment and international cooperation. "Egypt has good projects which represent an opportunity for the Chinese financial institutions to contribute to," mentioned Han, adding that AIIB has already invested over $200m in Egypt. On 5 September 2017, Egypt signed an agreement with the AIIB for $210m to the country's renewable energy sector. Beijing-based AIIB was founded in December 2015, and considers investments in energy, power generation, transportation, rural infrastructure, environmental protection and logistics. The bank has 80 countries as members.
