Egypt’s new leader visits China seeking investment
CHINA: Egypt's president will meet his Chinese counterpart in Beijing
on Tuesday, seeking in his first state visit outside the Arab world to
win badly needed investment and expand diplomatic ties.
Mohamed Morsi took over in June as Egypt's first freely elected
civilian and Islamist leader after protests toppled his long-ruling,
US-allied predecessor.
Egypt has struggled to boost its economy and secure foreign
investment since the uprising last year. It still receives $1.3 billion
in annual aid from the United States a year, although most of that goes
to the military.
Cairo and Beijing will sign agreements for seven major projects,
including a power station, a desalination plant, industrial bakeries and
Internet development, according to Egypt's assistant planning minister
Nabil Abdel Hamid.
Egypt will also propose development of a high-speed train line
between Cairo and Alexandria, Hamid told state daily Al-Ahram.
Egypt expert Peter Mandaville said Morsi's visit marked a “broader
effort by Egypt to signal that it's going to diversify its portfolio of
relationships”.
“In the short term I think it's absolutely the case that Egypt, given
its own economic situation, is pretty desperate to attract some
lucrative Chinese investment,” said Mandaville, a professor at George
Mason University in the United States.
Unlike Chinese economic support, US aid to Egypt comes with
conditions -- a sore point for Egyptians, Mandaville noted.
After his three-day trip Morsi will attend the Non-Aligned Movement
Summit in Iran, becoming Egypt's first leader in 30 years to visit the
nation.
He will go to Washington next month after attending the UN General
Assembly in New York, and Chinese media have highlighted his decision to
make Beijing his first official trip outside the Arab world.
“The Egyptian president is indicating that these are changing times
for his country's foreign policy,” said a recent article posted on the
website of the People's Daily, citing analysts. The paper is seen as a
mouthpiece for the ruling Communist party.
Morsi's spokesman Yasser Ali said the visit was “meant to attract
Chinese investment in Egypt.” AFP
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