The President of the General Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce and President of the African Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture Ibrahim Mahmoud El-Araby, during his virtual speech at the opening of the African-Chinese Economic Summit, confirmed the "importance of partnership between the countries of the African continent and China in achieving the aspirations of the people of the continent in economic and trade development, as China is the main trading partner, accounting for nearly 20 percent of the continent's foreign trade, and is the main investment partner, especially in the field of infrastructure, which is growing through the Belt and Road Initiative.
El-Araby stressed that "the Federation of African Chambers has taken the initiative to extend bridges of cooperation with all countries and blocs in the world to exploit all available opportunities to develop the economic relations of the continent," noting that “despite the challenges facing the global economy during the current period, in the areas of energy, environment, climate change and facing the inflationary effects of the Corona pandemic, the African business community looks at the other side of the currency through the new investment and trade opportunities, and finds it as promising opportunities for the development of the intra-African trade and China and an important opportunity to develop joint investments,” noting that “the current challenges facing the global economy require us to focus on our joint cooperation to develop intra-regional trade and joint investments, and this will only be achieved through the development of transportation and logistics, and the exploitation of the African Free Trade Area with its huge purchasing power of more than 1.4 trillion dollars.
Source (FEDCOC Website, Edited)
