Central Media Pay Attention to TEDA Cooperation Zone: "the belt and road initiative" Initiative is Making Egypt Better

Central Media Pay Attention to TEDA Cooperation Zone: "the belt and road initiative" Initiative is Making Egypt Better
Source of International Online Report

Reporter Lu Junhong

The original title "(I and" the belt and road initiative ")" the belt and road initiative "Initiative is Making Egypt Better"

In January 2016, during President Xi Jinping's visit to Egypt, he and Egyptian President Sisi unveiled the second phase of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. Today, this cooperation zone has become a demonstration park for the construction of the "Belt and Road", contributing to Egypt's economic development and economic and trade exchanges between China and Egypt.

The China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone is located in Sukhnaiquan Port, Suez Province, Egypt, more than 120 kilometers away from the capital Cairo. The full name is the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (TEDA Cooperation Zone for short). It is the second batch of state-level overseas economic and trade cooperation approved by the Chinese government. The zone officially started construction in 2008. With the deepening of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", this important platform for China-Egypt economic and trade cooperation has entered the "fast lane".

For Nahra, CEO of the Egyptian TEDA Special Zone Development Company, which is responsible for the investment and operation of the second phase of the cooperation zone, she has grown from a newcomer to the Egyptian "head" of the cooperation zone in the past ten years. I have witnessed many "new things" and "unexpected" in the past, and how it has become a beautiful reality step by step. "When I first came here, the construction of an economic and trade cooperation zone was still very new to Egyptians. When I first arrived here 12 years ago, it was really a desert. At that time, even if you wanted to buy some food and a bottle of water, it was very, very difficult because there was nothing nearby. But now there have been earth-shaking changes here. Not only all kinds of services and facilities are available, we even have a resort. Whether you are a businessman investing here or an employee working here, we have everything you need here now."

In Nachra's view, after the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative was put forward, the development speed and scale of the TEDA cooperation zone have reached a new level. "After the'Belt and Road' initiative was officially put forward, the Egyptian government gave more preferential policies to the cooperation zone, so more and more Chinese companies came to Egypt for development."

As of the end of December 2021, the TEDA Cooperation Zone has attracted 123 companies to settle in, with actual investment exceeding US $1.3 billion, cumulative sales exceeding US $3 billion, and taxes and fees exceeding US $0.19 billion. What makes Nahra happy is not only the excellent investment promotion results, but also some Chinese companies that have settled in Egypt have improved the technical level of related industries in Egypt, and even filled some market gaps in the entire Middle East and even Africa. For example, the Jushi Egyptian Glass Fiber Company in the cooperation zone has made Egypt, which was not a glass fiber producer, the world's fifth largest glass fiber producer through the high-tech "Made in China. Nahra said that the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has led to the development of a large area around it. "The China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone has vigorously promoted the development of the surrounding areas and rejuvenated the entire area. Today, Egypt's new administrative capital is only a few tens of kilometers away from us, Suez New City is built next to us, and Sukhnaiquan Port is booming, which in turn has further boosted the development of the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. Now, this once-remote area of Sukhnai Springs has become (one of) the best investment destinations on the African continent and even in the world. And all this comes from the landing of cooperation with China."

Egyptian entrepreneur Nagra's fiber optic cable factory is one of the enterprises stationed in the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. Nagra said: "Three years before I set up a factory here, I have been paying attention to the development of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. I have heard a lot of preferential policies given to settled enterprises here, and I have also visited here several times., And every time I come, I will find that there are more companies settled in. I think the work done by the Chinese side here is very good and well prepared. It not only has built factories, but also provides all kinds of help and services. This is also an important reason why I finally decided to set up a factory in the cooperation zone."

Nagra said that under the current background of high-quality joint construction of the "Belt and Road", she is full of confidence in the future of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone: "In fact, long before the'Belt and Road' initiative was put into practice, Egypt and China The cooperation has been very close. However, after such a major initiative was formally put forward, there is no doubt that it has provided more powerful impetus for the development of the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone. Take my experience in the past year and a half, for example, I have seen with my own eyes that many enterprises have been growing step by step."

At present, the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone directly provides about 4000 jobs, and the number of employed people driven by the industry in the park has reached more than 40000.

Aya, who has studied and lived in China for many years, came to the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone five years ago and is now a senior director of the asset business department. Among the Egyptian employees in the cooperation zone, there are actually quite a few Chinese-speaking employees like Aya. In her view, "the belt and road initiative" is making Egypt better. "There are more and more people learning Chinese now, and when I used to go abroad to study in China, there were still relatively few people learning Chinese at that time. Now, there are a lot of people learning Chinese throughout Egypt, and young people especially like to learn Chinese. So whether it's from life, economy or people's emotions, the Belt and Road has benefited us a lot and made our Egypt a better place."