A special guest is on his way to Egypt – and he intends to save its economy

Chinese President Xi Jinping has moved up his visit to Cairo, which is expected to begin today (Tuesday) after a decade in which he did not visit the country. Before the visit, Xi emphasized that "China and Egypt remain reliable partners striving for win-win cooperation. Egypt is an important trade and investment partner of China in the Arab world and Africa, and was one of the first countries to join the cooperation under the 'Belt and Road' initiative," China's flagship initiative in recent years.

The Chinese plan

China announced several years ago that it intends to return to being the powerful empire it was thousands of years ago. To this end, China launched the "Belt and Road" initiative — an initiative designed to connect China to the rest of the world by gaining a foothold in countries located between it and Europe.

The "Belt" is the ancient Silk Road that led between China and Italy in the very distant past. That road passes through Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, the Balkan countries, and ends in Italy. Now, China has begun to restore this road with a number of projects in countries located along the "Belt".

The "Road" is the sea route from China to the shores of Europe, and it passes through the Suez Canal — which belongs to Egypt. Indeed, the Chinese president emphasized in his speech before the visit that the economic and commercial cooperation in Suez between the two countries "brought Egypt huge investments and many jobs".

Xi also noted that Chinese companies completed the construction of the tallest tower and the first electric railway in Africa, and that fresh Egyptian oranges were among the first African products to enter the Chinese market, following the implementation of a duty-free import policy for African countries that maintain diplomatic relations with China.

But beyond economic cooperation, Egypt has a more important issue to deal with at the moment — the issue of water. Egypt is failing to provide enough water for its residents (who have already crossed the 100 million mark), while Ethiopia also made the situation difficult after building a dam on the part of the Nile River that passes through its territory. Regarding this, the Chinese president said before the visit:

"Whoever drinks from the waters of the Nile will return to them again".

Just two weeks ago, the situation was completely different. China launched a new sea route that passes through the Arctic Ocean and reaches Europe — and also announced that it would begin sending cargo ships on this route every week. The goal: to overcome the obstacle posed by the Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — which leads to the Red Sea and the canal.

From the perspective of Egyptian President Sisi, the move could have buried Egypt in a bigger economic problem. The use of the Suez Canal by the maritime trade world yields very high profits for Egypt — which collects tolls from every ship that passes in amounts of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Replacing the Chinese trade route to the Arctic will cost Egypt millions of dollars a month, at a time when the country is swimming in endless debts.

Now, it is possible that the two leaders have reached understandings that it is better for them to continue to cooperate regarding trade through the Suez Canal. This is after the two countries mark 70 years of joint relations, which began when Egypt became the first Arab and African country to recognize the People's Republic of China.