Egyptian Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli participated on Friday in the 8th Conference of Chinese and African Entrepreneurs, chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang of the State Council and Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who is currently visiting Beijing to participate in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
At the opening ceremony, the Chinese premier delivered a keynote speech on his country’s contribution to ongoing development efforts in African countries and the great opportunities available for cooperation between the two sides in the areas of intra-regional trade, modernizing industry and agricultural development.
The heads of state and government of Senegal, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Gabon, Comoros, and Sao Tome and Principe also delivered speeches that reflected their countries’ keenness on cooperating with China in all domains, particularly in fields related to boosting intra-regional trade, modernizing industry, achieving agricultural and infrastructure development, technology transfer, and energy diversification through the use of new and renewable energy resources.
In his speech, the Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce reviewed opportunities to enhance intra-regional trade.
For his part, the Chairman of the Chinese Development Bank underlined the bank’s efforts to back economic and development projects in African countries.
Giving a speech at the opening of the conference, Secretary General of the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce (FEDCDC) Alaa Ezz stressed the depth of ties between the two sides.
He underlined the opportunities available for cooperation between China and African countries, stressing the importance of supporting infrastructure and transportation projects with the view to beefing up trade exchange, particularly in light of a number of important projects, topped by the Cairo–Cape Town Highway. The route has a length of 10,228 km and links Cairo in Egypt to Cape Town in South Africa.
The conference is a key event of the 2024 FOCAC Summit to promote trade exchanges between the two sides. The theme of the summit is “Joining Hands to Advance Modernization and Build a High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future.”
The conference has attracted more than 1,000 participants, including over 400 representatives from business associations and institutions across 48 African countries, including Senegal, South Africa and Kenya.
The participating companies come from both traditional industries, such as energy and mining, and emerging industries such as electronic technology, communications satellites and biomedicine.
Organized by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and China’s Ministry of Commerce, the conference is the highest-level economic and trade event within the FOCAC framework for the business communities of both sides.
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