Jamaldin, Chairman of the General Administration of the Suez Canal Economic Zone: I have a dream to attract thousands of Chinese companies in the future

Source Xinhua News Agency

Reporter Yao Bing Zhang Jian

The original title "Jamaldin, Chairman of the General Administration of the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt:" I have a dream and hope to attract thousands of Chinese companies in the future ""

"We are pleased that over the past two years (the Suez Canal Economic Zone) has attracted more than $6 billion in investment, 40 percent of which has come from China. With Chinese investment in Egypt growing in various sectors, the prospects for cooperation between the two sides are very bright." Walid Jamaldin, chairman of the General Administration of the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt, said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in the new administrative capital of Egypt.

On August 11, Walid Jamaldin, chairman of the General Administration of the Suez Canal Economic Zone of Egypt, accepted an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency reporters in the new administrative capital of Egypt. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Sui Xiankai

Jamaldin said that at present, the Suez Canal Economic Zone has attracted about 160 Chinese companies, involving industries such as glass fiber, new building materials, petroleum equipment, high and low pressure equipment, and mechanical equipment manufacturing.

"The beauty is that investment projects are not concentrated in a single industrial link or industry, but cover a wide range of fields and have rich diversity." Jamaldin believes that the industrial ecosystem of the Suez Canal Economic Zone, special incentive policies, infrastructure facilities, one-stop services, unique and superior geographical location, free trade agreements with multiple economies, and low energy and labor costs are the key to attracting a large amount of Chinese investment.

In Jamaluddin's eyes, the Suez Canal Economic Zone and the Suez Canal will play an important role in the Belt and Road Initiative. He said that the "Belt and Road" initiative is consistent with the development goals of Egypt's "2030 Sustainable Development Vision". "We believe that the integration between our industrial zones and ports will help integrate the Suez Canal Economic Zone into the'Belt and Road' initiative and help investors in the region achieve its goals".

The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (TEDA Cooperation Zone), which was founded in 2008, is located in the Suez Canal Economic Zone. In recent years, it has continuously attracted enterprises to settle in and projects to land. It has gradually become a docking "Belt and Road" initiative and Egypt's "Suez Canal Corridor Economic Belt" demonstration project.

"The TEDA Cooperation Zone has about 7.2 square kilometers of industrial zone land, about 5.2 square kilometers are currently used for investment, and the remaining 2 square kilometers are expected to be used up soon. In order to be able to accommodate more businesses, we are negotiating with TEDA to expand the zone by another 3 square kilometers." Jamaldin said that TEDA is a professional industrial park developer. It has successfully introduced Chinese investors to help us communicate with Chinese investors and solve various problems that may arise.

"I hope that the cooperation with TEDA will continue to strengthen, and TEDA is welcome to expand its business to other industrial zones in our economic zone, such as Port East Said and West Cantara." He said.

Jamaluddin has visited China many times. In his view, "China has a variety of industries and is a big manufacturing country". "China is specialized in certain areas. We need to address those specializations before we can bring in specific industries. That's what we're doing and we 've been successful." He said: "Many Chinese investors who came to the Egyptian industrial park have achieved success and become our'ambassadors', which helped us attract more investors."

Jamaldin said that he will go to China with the Egyptian delegation to attend the 2024 summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. "For us, this summit is very important. We can talk to our partners in Africa about how we can better serve them and how Chinese investors can better serve Africa through Egypt." He said that Egypt can become a base for Chinese manufacturing and facilitate Chinese companies to enter Africa.

"Egypt has benefited from the many investors it has attracted over the past few years. We look forward to attracting more Chinese investors in the future, especially in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries." "I have a dream that the Suez Canal Economic Zone will attract thousands of Chinese enterprises in the future," Jamaldin said."

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