The head of Egypt's Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZONE) has met with a high-level Chinese economic delegation led by Deputy Minister of Commerce Ling Ji to discuss strengthening economic and investment cooperation. During the meeting at the authority's headquarters in the New Administrative Capital, SCZONE Chairperson Waleid Gamal El-Dien praised the successful partnership with China, particularly through the industrial developer TEDA, which he said has achieved great success in attracting and developing Chinese investments within the economic zone. He noted that SCZONE is seeking to deepen cooperation with China by promoting investments in automobile manufacturing, covering all stages of production and the entire value chain, as well as in the new and renewable energy sector, including the manufacturing of wind turbines and other clean energy industries. Gamal El-Dien added that the authority is also focused on attracting investments in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries, as well as cooperation in the logistics sector, pointing to the fruitful partnership with China's Hutchison Port Holdings through a new container terminal set to open soon at Sokhna port. For his part, Deputy Minister Ling Ji said that the economic cooperation between Egypt and China embodies the shared development vision of the two countries' presidents and that the TEDA-Suez economic and trade cooperation zone is an important part of the Belt and Road Initiative. He praised TEDA's success in attracting numerous industries and projects, most of them for leading Chinese companies. On the sidelines of the visit, an MoU was initialled between SCZONE and China's Ministry of Commerce to enhance cooperation in developing the TEDA-Suez zone. The MoU aims to expand bilateral cooperation, exchange expertise in developing special economic zones, encourage Chinese companies to invest, and support the development of the TEDA zone by facilitating procedures related to land allocation and infrastructure.
