Don’t miss the latest developments in business and finance.

China's Xi inks deals worth billions on Mideast tour

Image
AFP Cairo
Last Updated : Jan 21 2016 | 11:28 PM IST
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced today billions of dollars in special loans and investments in the Middle East as Beijing seeks to boost its economic ties and clout in the region.
Xi offered China's financial support in an address to the Cairo-based Arab League after holding talks with Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during his first tour to the Middle East as president.
Xi arrived in Cairo late yesterday from Saudi Arabia and will travel tomorrow to Iran, the last leg of his three-nation tour.
Xi offered USD 55 billion in loans and investments to the Middle East.
"China will offer USD 15 billion as special loans for industrial projects in the Middle East," he told the Arab League.
Another USD 10 billion would be provided as commercial loans to boost cooperation in the energy sector and an equivalent amount will be offered as preferential loans, he said.

Also Read

Xi also announced the establishment of a common investment fund worth $20 billion for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Beijing has long taken a backseat to other diplomatic players in the Middle East but analysts say the region is crucial to Xi's signature foreign policy initiative -- known as "One Belt One Road" -- touted as a revival of ancient Silk Road trade routes.
China, the world's second-largest economy, also relies heavily on oil and gas imported from the energy-rich Middle East.
"We are not setting up proxies or building a sphere of influence in the region," Xi told the Arab League.
Xi signed a slew of separate agreements with Cairo for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure.
"The total investments in these projects would be USD 15 billion. These projects will offer a new impetus to the economic development of Egypt," he said in a joint statement with Sisi.
Sisi said the agreements were the "best evidence of the two countries' determination to improve their levels of cooperation."
In an article in state-run newspaper Al-Ahram ahead of his visit, Xi expressed China's backing for Egypt running its affairs without outside interference.
"China supports the people of Egypt in making independent choices for the future of their own country," he wrote.

More From This Section

First Published: Jan 21 2016 | 11:28 PM IST

Next Story