Sisi meets heads of Chinese companies at Egyptian Embassy

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi attended Wednesday a seminar organized by the Egyptian Embassy in Beijing on boosting Sino-Egyptian businesses.

The meeting was attended by chairmen of major Chinese companies.

The chairmen of the companies were grateful to Sisi for his keenness to meet them during his stay in China, presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said Wednesday.

This reflects Cairo's support for Chinese companies operating in Egypt, the chairmen said.

Youssef said that they also praised development achieved in Egypt at the economic and trade levels over the past year.

They said that the New Suez Canal project in Egypt integrates with an initiative by the Chinese president to revive the ancient Silk Road, the spokesman further said.

The chairmen of the Chinese companies also voiced interest in increasing their investments in Egypt, now that the situation there is stable and the economy is gradually rebounding, Youssef added.

They also congratulated Sisi on the recent natural gas discovery in the Mediterranean waters, Youssef said.

The Chinese businessmen are confident in Egypt's ability to continue the economic development process.

The chairman of the China Africa Development Fund (CAD Fund) also spoke in the meeting.

He reviewed projects the fund has financed in Egypt.

Sisi told representatives of the Chinese companies that bilateral strategic relations are reflected in business between the two countries.

Egypt seriously acts to honor its commitments and remove obstacles that might face Chinese companies, Sisi assured.

The president shed light on measures taken by the government to facilitate the establishment of development and investment projects in Egypt.

In three months, an approach channel to East Port Said Port will have been dug with the aim to ease the entry of ships, Sisi said, adding that the harbor will be upgraded and expanded by October 2016.

The president also talked about projects to upgrade the Ain Sokhna Port and establish two industrial zones that should serve as a hinterland of the two ports as part of the Suez Canal development project.

The Egyptian government can extend the infrastructure to the two industrial zones within 18 months, Sisi said.

The president also touched upon the recent natural gas finding off Egypt's Mediterranean coast. This won't be the last discovery, Sisi told the chairmen of the Chinese companies. Exploration for energy sources will continue, he said.

Sisi also pointed to mega national projects that are currently being implemented in Egypt. One such project is the reclamation of 1.5 million feddans, which aims to create integrated communities at the agricultural, industrial and urban levels.

The infrastructure of the project should be completed in 18 months, Sisi told the chairmen of the companies.

He invited the Chinese companies to put their money into this promising project.

Egypt intends to build a number of new cities to cope with the growing population and ease overcrowding. This includes the New Administrative Capital, whose first phase will be built over an area of six million square meters in the coming two years, the president said.

He also talked about measures and legislation to encourage investments. He particularly mentioned the unified investment law and the one-stop-shop system, noting that both are meant to facilitate investment and remove bureaucratic obstacles.

The president also pointed to an improvement in the performance of the Egyptian economy and an increase in Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs), though he still stressed the need to double those investments and increase growth rates.