Yao Bing
Driving east from Cairo, after crossing 120 km of desert dotted with only a few scattered date palms, I suddenly spotted a vibrant, life-filled oasis.
As I reached the Red Sea coast, an obelisk bearing the name China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone rose from the middle of the road, dividing two strikingly different landscapes: barren desert on one side and lush greenery on the other.
For centuries, oases in the desert offered hope to Arab merchants traveling across vast sands. Today, a new kind of oasis has emerged along the Gulf of Suez — not a gift of nature, but a testament to friendship and partnership.
Established in 2008, the TEDA Cooperation Zone now stands like a green jewel embedded in the desert, brimming with vitality and promise.
Since starting to work in Cairo four years ago, I have visited the zone many times. During every visit I can find something new — a new factory wing, a new row of palms, new workers streaming through the gates, all new testimony to the vitality of China-Egypt relations.
Inside the zone, wide asphalt roads run past rows of modern standard factories, and tall palm and date trees cast cooling shade for people shuttling between office buildings, hotels, residential apartments and recreational facilities. Though an industrial zone, the complete infrastructure and pleasant environment make it feel more like a modern industrial city rising from the sand.
Today, more than 10,000 Egyptians work in the TEDA Cooperation Zone, many seeing it as the place where their dreams have taken wing. Ahmed Radwan is one of them. He joined TEDA in November 2008 and has since risen from finance manager to executive president of the Egypt TEDA Investment Company.
When Radwan first arrived, however, the area was little more than empty desert. Reviewing the development plans at that time, he recalled, they seemed like an unattainable dream. “But today, we have jointly transformed this former wasteland into a modern industrial city,” he told me with pride. “As a witness to this remarkable transformation, I feel deeply honored.”
In recent years, Egypt has stepped up efforts to revitalize its industrial sector by attracting foreign investment. Against this backdrop, the TEDA Cooperation Zone has become a key hub of China-Egypt economic and trade cooperation.
To date, around 200 companies have settled here, with total investment reaching 3.8 billion U.S. dollars. Industrial clusters have taken shape in areas such as new building materials, machinery manufacturing, new energy, and household appliances.
Egypt’s rapid development has increased demand for stable electricity supply, yet power resources remain unevenly distributed across the country. A joint China-Egypt venture, XD-EGEMAC High Voltage Electric Equipment Co., Ltd., has helped address this challenge.
“Since participating in Egypt’s national grid projects in 2016, we have significantly eased power shortages,” said Li Jianfei, the company’s general manager. “Our role is to transmit electricity efficiently, safely, and with minimal loss from the south, where power is generated, to the main load centers in the north.”
At the production site of Jushi Egypt Fiberglass Co., Ltd., piles of stone and sand rise like small hills before being fed into furnaces. Through a full set of fiberglass production technologies, these raw materials — the same sand surrounding the zone — are transformed into products that are as white as silk, as strong as steel, and as light as paper.
Since settling in the TEDA Cooperation Zone in January 2012, Jushi Egypt has introduced high-tech “Made in China” manufacturing to Egypt, helping turn the northern African country into the world’s fourth-largest fiberglass producer. The project has also driven the development of upstream industries such as mineral raw materials and packaging, with about 95 percent of raw materials now sourced locally.
“We turn stones and sand into something as valuable as fiberglass. It’s truly incredible,” Dina Mahmoud Hassan, deputy manager of the planning and logistics division, told me.
So far, the company has created around 2,000 direct jobs, with Egyptians accounting for more than 98 percent of the workforce.
“I feel fortunate to have joined Jushi Egypt,” Hassan said. “The competitive pay and benefits have transformed my family’s circumstances and my quality of life.” Looking ahead, she hopes to continue advancing her career and to see what she calls the “flower of glass fiber” bloom even more brightly in Egypt.
From barren desert to a thriving economic and trade hub, TEDA vividly illustrates the broader trajectory of relations between China and Egypt, which celebrates the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year.
Under the strategic guidance of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, bilateral relations have achieved leapfrog development. The two countries have now agreed to build on their comprehensive strategic partnership toward a China-Egypt community with a shared future in the new era, setting a model of solidarity, cooperation, and mutual benefit between China and Arab, African, Islamic, and developing countries.
Looking ahead, a more promising future beckons. The great synergy between China’s recently outlined development blueprint for 2026-2030 and Egypt’s Vision 2030 strategic agenda means immense potential in bilateral cooperation is yet to be fully tapped. Meanwhile, the flourishing people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two nations are further enhancing public support for closer ties.
But perhaps the most telling measure of success isn’t found in trade statistics or diplomatic statements, but on the smiling faces of Radwan, Hassan, and numerous others who have had their lives improved and their dreams realized because of the thriving friendship and partnership between the two countries.
As I drive back toward Cairo, the obelisk recedes in the rearview mirror. The green-yellow contrast remains stark, but the line between them keeps moving.
Yao Bing is Chief Correspondent at the Cairo Bureau of Xinhua News Agency and a researcher at the Xinhua Institute.
