Chinese Government provides RMB 45.5 million grant for Suez Canal Economic Zone Vocational and Technical Training Center Project (Linked to Record ID#59801 and ID#59756)

Project narrative

On March 20, 2017, the Chinese Ambassador to Egypt and the Egyptian Minister of Investment and International Cooperation signed letters of exchange, committing RMB 45.5 million (approximately $7 million) of grant funding for the Suez Canal Economic Zone Vocational and Technical Training Center Project. The purpose of this project is to construct a vocational and technical training center — that occupies a 40,000 square meter area — with instructional buildings, dormitories, training areas, restaurants, and event venues. On September 17, 2019, the Economic and Commercial Counselor from the Chinese Embassy, Han Bing, and the Chairman of the Egyptian Suez Canal Economic Zone Management Bureau, Yehia Zaki, met to discuss the results of a project feasibility study initiated in 2017. The two sides agreed to establish the center in TEDA TOWN, the location of the TEDA Suez Trade and Economic Cooperation Zone's second phase of expansion. Then, on December 9, 2019, China-Africa TEDA Investment Co. Ltd., and Egypt's Ministry of Manpower signed a protocol, providing Egyptian labor for enterprises located within the TEDA Suez Trade and Economic Cooperation Zone. The protocol specified that the Egyptian labor provided would be trained at the Suez Canal Economic Zone Vocational and Technical Training Center in an effort to provide increased training and job opportunities to Egyptian youth. Those trained at the vocational center would be directly hired by Chinese firms.