Chinese Government provides RMB 32 million grant for Chinese Garden Project (Linked to Record ID#58589 and ID#72463)

Project narrative

On April 12, 2012, the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt, Song Aiguo, and the Egyptian Minister of Planning and International Cooperation, Fayza Abul-Naga, signed an exchange of letters, which committed RMB 32 million of grant funding for the Chinese Garden Project. These grant proceeds were drawn in part from an Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) that was signed by the two governments on June 15, 2009 [see Egyptian Presidential Decision no. 383 (2009)]. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) is the source of funding for this project. The purpose of the project is to construct a Chinese style park (or ‘garden’) in Luxor City. Its ultimate aim is to lure tourists to Luxor City. On October 21, 2014, the Chinese Economic and Commercial Counselor to Egypt, Han Qing, and the Governor of Luxor, Maj. Gen. Tariq Saadeddin, discussed the park project's implementation. Then, on January 30, 2016, a delegation from the MOFCOM visited Luxor Governorate to discuss the project's location with the provincial government. It was originally envisaged that the park would be located near Luxor general hospital to overlook the Nile River. However, as of mid-2016, alternative project locations were being considered. As of August 30, 2020, AidData could not identify any evidence that this project ever entered implementation.