Tarek Kabil, minister of trade and industry, headed the Egyptian delegation in the meetings of the China-Arab Business Summit 2017, the seventh session of the Arab-Chinese Businessmen Conference and the fifth China Investment Conference, held in Beijing, under the theme “Toward Comprehensive Development,” with the participation of a host of senior officials and representatives of top Chinese and Arab companies.
“The Chinese-Arab relationship has witnessed a significant progress recently, especially with many Arab countries seeking to enhance mutual cooperation with China, eight of which already in strategic partnerships with the Asian country until 2016,” Kabil said in his speech.
The Belt and Road Initiative, he added, with its two main prongs: the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, announced by the Chinese president in 2013, will be “the road map for enhancing trade and economic relations between China and Arab countries.”
“Over the last ten years, bilateral trade between China and the Arab world has grown gradually, making China one of the latter’s major trade partners, and notably the largest trade partner of Egypt and Saudi Arabia,” he noted.
According to official figures, China-Arab trade volume hit $171bln in 2016; Chinese exports standing at $101bln and Arab exports at around $70bln. Additionally, Arab countries are China’s top crude oil suppliers, where Chinese imports of Arab oil reached 150mln tonnes, accounting for around 40% of its total crude oil imports.
The general federation of the Egyptian chambers of commerce signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese Council in the presence of Kabil to promote International Trade and to enhance the mutual cooperation in the legal services field.
The agreement aims at forming an Egyptian-Chinese committee for cooperation in the field of commercial law, that will works to settle trade disputes through dialogue, consultation and negotiation.
It also aims at making specialized studies on commercial law in Egypt and China, with regard to trade, investment, finance, taxation and exchange rates, in order to help the business communities in #Egypt and China to understand the legal environment in both countries and Establishing mechanisms to resolve trade disputes.
The federation of African Chambers of Commerce and the Chinese Council also signed a memorandum of understanding to promote International Trade in the field of the development of economic and trade relations between #China and the African continent and also to support investment projects.
The memorandum of understanding aims to setup a mechanism to activate the joint work and the exchange of the latest economic and trade developments information between China and the African continent.
In the same context the minister stressed that Egypt is keen to expand the volume of joint economic relations with China, with regard to the development of Egyptian exports to the Chinese market, stressing that the 'Silk Road' initiative is a 'great one' linking China and all the countries of Europe and Africa.
