Egypt signs memo with China for $739m rail link to new capital

Egypt signed a memorandum of understanding with China on Tuesday for Beijing to finance a rail link worth about $739m serving a new capital the north African country is building, the Egyptian investment minister said.

The link will connect the new capital, under construction in the desert some 45km north of Cairo and so far unnamed, to an industrial zone. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2015 announced the plans for the new city, which is expected to cost about $300bn.

Egypt has also signed an agreement for a non-refundable grant from China worth $45m for a research satellite project, Investment Minister Sahar Nasr said in a statement.

Sisi this week attended the BRICS summit in Xiamen, southeast China.

China used the meeting of the BRICS countries – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – and other developing economies to stress the need to promote trade liberalisation and an open world economy.