Egypt will continue to expand its economic and investment relationship with China -- especially through infrastructure, development financing, and technology transfers -- but Cairo will maintain its strategic alignment with the United States due to enduring military dependencies and regional security needs. On July 10, Egyptian and Chinese economic development officials signed a memorandum of understanding to begin the first phase of a debt-for-development swap initiated in 2023. The memorandum of understanding reached in 2023 outlined a framework in which a portion of Egypt's foreign debt owed to China would be swapped for interest-free loans to finance development projects across several fields, including renewable energy, healthcare, connectivity, education and industrial localization. As part of the deal, around $1.2 billion of the roughly $8 billion in external debt that Egypt owes to China will reportedly be swapped in phases. The agreement to commence the first phase was signed during Chinese Premier...
