Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Tarek Kabil and Minister of Investment Dalia Khorshid met with Zhao Hongjing, Vice President of China Fortune Land Development, a major industrial developer in China.

During the meeting, the company expressed its interest in investing in the Egyptian market by establishing and managing industrial and technological areas.

Kabil called for the Chinese company to study the possibility of establishing an integrated industrial city on 30m sqm that would include residential buildings, schools, and services along with an industrial zone.

The minister called on the company to prepare a general masterplan of the zone, including financial costs, by early September.

Furthermore, Kabil invited the company to visit Egypt and communicate with officials of the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to learn details about the region and the land.

The company decided to open an office in Cairo to increase its presence in the Egyptian market and take advantage of the benefits and incentives offered by the investment climate in the country.

The two ministers also met with China Construction, a major construction and infrastructure company, with whom they discussed the most important projects implemented by the company in Egypt, and in particular the building of new administrative government buildings in the New Administrative Capital.

Kabil noted that the company has shown interest in launching new projects, particularly in the phosphate industry and in building sewage plants.

Khorshid added that the Ministry of Investment will provide all support needed to facilitate the business of the company in Egypt, especially since the company has significant investment in the African market, including investments in Algeria, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Ethiopia.

The two ministers met other Chinese companies in the field of export credit guarantee risk as well as with TEDA Investment Holding Co to discuss the second phase of developments of the economic zone in the northwest Gulf of Suez.

Khorshid pointed out that of the total companies operating in Egypt, there are only 70 companies in the fields of oil and petrochemicals, telecommunications, building materials, automotives, motorcycles, and the production of glass fibre.