What will China do as Egypt battles a financial crisis?

Name: China is building a new Egyptian capital in the desert under its Belt and Road Initiative
Uploaded: 2023-02-06T04:00:11.000Z
Duration: 2 min 2 s
Description: China is building a new Egyptian capital in the desert under its Belt and Road Initiative

Beijing has backed big investments in Egyptian infrastructure and pledged to expand cooperation on financing

But Cairo is in the grip of an economic crunch and confronting tough geopolitical questions

5-MIN READ5-MIN

China says it is committed to making the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone a success. Photo: Handout

Jevans Nyabiage

Published: 12:00pm, 6 Feb 2023

The signs from the top are that China is not about to back off on its investment in Egypt any time soon.

In early December Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi that China was ready to deepen links, particularly on the transcontinental Belt and Road Initiative.

That included on-schedule completion of a train project in the 10th of Ramadan City and a central business district project in the country’s new administrative capital. China would also make the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (SETC-Zone) and other major cooperation projects a success, Xi said.

“China is ready to … expand cooperation in investment and financing, joint vaccine production and aerospace,” Xi added.

Similar assurances came from Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang when he met Sisi just last month.

But Egypt is in the depths of a financial crisis that has raised questions about whether Cairo can afford such grandiose projects.

02:02

China is building a new Egyptian capital in the desert under its Belt and Road Initiative