New Chinese-Egyptian economic forum opens in China

A Chinese-Egyptian Economic Forum kick started in Beijing Tuesday for three days, simultaneously with the visit of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi. A massive delegation of Egyptian businessmen participated in the forum. Mohammed Al Demerdash, who serves as the coordinator of the Egyptian delegation in China, said that the forum will also witness the launch of the Asian-Egyptian Business Forum. The aim of the forum according to Al Demerdash will be to increase investment of Asian countries in Egypt from $500 to $2 billion in the coming three years. Head of the delegation and member of the Muslim Brotherhood Hassan Malek, who also head a committee linking businessmen to the President, said that Egypt have never formed such a diversified business delegation for any visit. The delegation was formed of businessmen from as many as eight fields. The delegation included fields such as the infra-structure, power, water, transport, construction, tourism, petrochemicals as well as weaving. On the other side, some 200 Chinese companies will participate in the conference. Both sides will aim to ink economic agreements that will increase economic cooperation and Chinese investments in Egypt. There were also seven Egyptian cabinet members in the delegation, they were; Minister of Investment Osama Saleh, Minister of Transport Mohammed Rashad, Minister of Industry and Foreign Trade Hatem Saleh, Minister of Communication Hany Mahmoud, Minister of International Cooperation Ashraf Al Araby and finally Minister of Tourism Hisham Za'zou.