These companies include major brands such as OPPO, Haier, Jushi, Midea, TEDA, Huawei, and Brilliance.
Heiba’s remarks came during a meeting on Monday with Wang Weizhong, governor of Guangdong Province in China.
The Chinese governor is visiting Cairo with a delegation representing government entities in the province and Chinese companies interested in investing in the Egyptian market.
The delegation also included representatives from Chinese companies already operating in Egypt, such as Midea, OPPO, ZTE Communications, and GAC Automotive.
In a statement by GAFI, Heiba said the Egyptian government aims to attract Chinese investments in sectors like automotive manufacturing, building materials, textiles, electronics, renewable energy, data centres, and artificial intelligence.
Busy investment agenda
The two sides discussed the investment cooperation agenda for the second half of 2025, including the Ministry of Investment and External Trade's participation in the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, China, from 24 to 26 June.
Business community meetings will follow this in Beijing and Shanghai.
Moreover, the Egyptian-Chinese Investment Forum, which Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen will attend, is scheduled to take place in Cairo this July.
Preparations are also underway for Egypt's participation in the China Import and Export Fair in Guangdong Province in October. The fair will host 60,000 economic institutions, among other events.
Heiba attributed the dense investment cooperation agenda to several factors, most notably the political alignment between the leadership of both nations, Egypt’s attractive investment climate, and ongoing changes in the global economy that have prompted a shift in investment strategies.
As a result, GAFI is seeing a growing influx of Chinese investment delegations exploring opportunities in Egypt.
Investment roadmap
The statement also highlighted that Egypt places particular importance on Chinese investments due to their role in technology transfer, job creation, and significant capital volume.
It added that GAFI plans to establish a full-scale Chinese textile city in Minya Governorate in collaboration with the China National Textile and Apparel Council under the export-supportive free zone system.
Additionally, three Chinese companies, Haier, Midea, and Shen Feng, have been granted the golden license, consolidating all approvals required to establish and operate their businesses.
GAC Automotive President Feng Xingya announced the company’s intention to invest $300 million in establishing a car-manufacturing plant in Egypt.
He said the goal is to meet local market needs and export abroad, citing the support provided by the Egyptian government.
Meanwhile, ZTE Communications CEO Zhou Peng stated that the company aims to expand in the Egyptian market and localize Chinese technology, capitalizing on the high demand from Egyptian telecom service providers to upgrade telecommunications infrastructure.
For his part, OPPO Egypt's general manager, Ma Jixiang, said that since the company started investing in Egypt in 2014, it has established two factories covering over 20,000 square metres, created 1,000 job opportunities, and produced four to five million phones annually.
He announced that the parent company aims to transform its Egypt-based factories into its second central manufacturing hub after China, to meet local demand and export to regional markets.
On Saturday, the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone) and the Chinese company GS Global Sourcing signed a contract allowing the company to invest $15 million in establishing a ready-made garment factory within the Qantara West Industrial Zone.
In July last year, Chinese company Zhejiang Hengsheng also started work on a $70 million textiles and clothing factory in West Qantara.
Growing diplomatic and economic ties
For his part, the governor of Guangdong Province emphasized the depth of diplomatic and economic ties with Egypt, noting that the two countries have maintained a comprehensive strategic partnership since 2014.
Egypt and China have a long history of diplomatic relations. Egypt was the first Arab and African nation to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1956.
The governor also highlighted directives from Chinese President Xi Jinping to strengthen cooperation with Egypt.
He also pointed out that Guangdong Province alone accounts for one-fifth of China’s trade with Egypt.
Additionally, residents of the province show the highest demand for Egyptian tourism.
The Chinese governor also proposed hosting a permanent Egyptian cultural exhibition in Guangdong to boost tourism ties between the two countries.
During a landmark visit to China in May 2024, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi stressed Egypt’s keenness on localizing industries and technology, training the local workforce, and creating new job opportunities in the Egyptian market.
In December 2014, President El-Sisi officially visited China shortly after taking office and met President XI, where they signed a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP) agreement.
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