Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of the PRC in the Arab Republic of Egypt Holds the First Promotion Meeting for CIIE

On December 17, 2017, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of the PRC in the Arab Republic of Egypt held the first promotion meeting for the CIIE in Alexandria Governorate, at which Minister-Counselor of the Office Han Bing briefed on the first CIIE.

CIIE and “The Belt and Road” Initiative

“The Belt and Road” initiative, proposed by President Xi Jinping, is a plan provided by China for the whole world and has received widespread attention worldwide. As a large developing Islamic country of the Arab world in Africa, Egypt is located in the west-end junction of the Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt, with unique geographical advantage and a position as a hub. The Suez Canal, which connects two seas and three oceans, is also an important part of the 21st-century Maritime Silk Road. As a warm seconder of the B&R initiative, Egypt has signed relevant cooperation agreements with China.

In May 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced at the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation that China would hold China International Import Expo (CIIE) starting from 2018. To hold CIIE is a significant move for the Chinese government to firmly support trade liberalization and economic globalization as well as an important measure to actively open the Chinese market to the world, which will provide an international platform where all countries may conduct cooperation in international trade. Several ministers of Egypt attended the forum.

The first CIIE is scheduled to take place from November 5 to 10, 2018 at Shanghai National Exhibition and Convention Center. It is estimated that 150,000 professional purchasers from more than 100 countries and regions including China will participate in the Expo.Back to the Site of the Promotion Meeting

According to Minister-Counselor Han Bing, China and Egypt have maintained a friendly relation for long. During President Al-SiSi’s visit to China in 2014, the relations between the two countries were upgraded to comprehensive strategic partnership. During the past three years, there have been frequent mutual visits by the heads of the two states and Sino-Egyptian cooperation on economy and trade has made great strides.

As an important partner of China in the Arab and African region, Egypt is among the first countries which are invited to participate in the country exhibition of the CIIE. Currently the Ministry of Trade & Industry of Egypt has confirmed that Egypt would participate in the country exhibition.

As to the Enterprise and Business Exhibition, Minister-Counselor Han Bing made an introduction from such aspects like highlights, layout, scale of exhibits, venue plan, and registration method. Based on China’s import from Egypt and the rest of the world in recent years, Minister-Counselor Han Bing also listed some important areas in which Egypt enjoys an advantage in terms of export, including food & agricultural products, household items, textiles, tourism, culture and art & design. Minister-Counselor Han Bing extended a sincere invitation on behalf of China for Egyptian export enterprises to participate in the CIIE, and hoped that the Expo would become a new platform for them to expand the global market.

The Export Development Bureau (EDB) of the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Egypt is the major organizer of its participation in the first CIIE. Director of the Export Capacity Development Department of EDB Hussem Ale Shafi said that CIIE would bring forth opportunities for exporters of Egypt and other countries to enter the Chinese and the global markets. Therefore EDB lays great emphasis on the organization of participation in the Expo, and will encourage enterprises to actively participate in it to promote the competitive products of Egypt and make positive contributions to the overall economic development of the country. To that end, EDB will provide subsidies for participating companies in booth cost and physical distribution expenses.

The Alexandria Chamber of Commerce of Egypt is the host of the promoting meeting. Chairman of the Chamber Ahmed Hassan stressed that CIIE provides an excellent platform for Egyptian companies to enter the Chinese market. The Expo will, according to exhibitors’ requirements, hold a series of supporting activities, including supply-demand matchmaking meetings, seminars on industrial exchanges and product releases, and build a regular one-stop trading platform combining online and offline functions based on the Internet technologies to offer a series of services including display of commodities and services, demand release, demand & supply matchmaking and deal follow-up. The Chamber of Commerce will provide support for its member enterprises in participating in the Expo and provide them with consultation regarding the Expo and other services.

meeting evoked a strong response among the participating enterprises, which put forward a number of questions with respect to different aspects of the first CIIE, such as its overview, trade settlement, preferential policies, translation services and follow-up cooperation. Minister-Counselor Han Bing made replies one by one and encouraged the enterprises to use RMB for trade settlement.

The promotion meeting was the first of its kind held in Alexandria Governorate jointly organized by the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of the PRC in the Arab Republic of Egypt, EDB of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce of Egypt, which was mainly intended for the export companies based in Alexandria Governorate. Attended the meeting were Consul General of China’s consulate general in Alexandria Xu Nanshan, Director of the Export Capacity Development Department of EDB of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, chairman of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce of Egypt and persons-in-charge of more than 50 member enterprises of the Chamber.

On January 3, 2018, the second promotion meeting will be held in Cairo by the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Embassy of the PRC in Egypt in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, with an aim to attract more Egyptian exporters to join the first CIIE.