China-Egypt Financial Cooperation: Developments and Problems

Since the formal establishment of strategic partnership,China and Egypt have continuously strengthened cooperation in the field of finance.The two countries have achieved positive progress through signing memoranda,establishing financial institutions,providing investment and financing support,and implementing the bilateral currency swaps.However,given the lower level of financial inclusion and the lack of efficient investment and financing systems,the two countries still face some difficulties and deficiencies,and it is difficult to achieve in-depth financial cooperation.At present,Egypt,as a country along the Belt and Road,supports the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)launched by its biggest trade partner,China.Deepening China-Egypt financial cooperation plays a significant role in both promoting the implementation of BRI and advancing China’s geopolitics,economic,security,and strategic interests.China and Egypt shall increase the size of currency swap based on existent cooperation,strengthen support for financial projects,build official dialogue platforms,and share achievements in fintech.All the activities mentioned above may contribute to the overcome of challenges,mutual communication,and the next phase of deepened cooperation.

“一带一路”倡议与“中国-V4”金融合作机制

Since the Belt and Road Initiative(BRI)was put forward,t he Ch i nese gove r n ment ha s cont i nuou sly promoted f i na ncial cooperation and made financial intermediation an important support of its framework.Starting from this cooperation as promoted under the framework of the BRI generally and the bilateral financial cooperation between China and the Visegrád Group(V4)specifically,this paper comprehensively analyzes the historical context of financial cooperation and the data details in the economic areas between China and the V4,and compares the financial cooperation between the EU and the V4 countries.It points out that this cooperation has had an overall development.However,owing both to the unbalanced trade between China and the V4 and to the great differences in their financial systems,its continued development has been hindered.In addition,there is not enough capacity for financial service nor are there enough institutions of financial cooperation to support this development.Hence,looking at the factors affecting financial cooperation,this study puts forth four aspects to promote the development of financial cooperation between China and the V4:strengthening political cooperation,improving financing tools and the level of financial-cooperation service,strengthening financial supervision,and cooperation with multilateral financial institutions.

Islamic Financial Development and Cooperation Among Member States in CICA

There are 26 member states in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia(CICA),including Asian countries and some African countries.CICA has developed the regional and cooperation mechanism with the largest coverage,the largest number of members and the widest representation.The vast majority of member states are countries along the Belt and Road Initiative(B&R),and many countries use Islamic finance in CICA’s own financial system or are interested in cooperating with Islamic finance.For political and economic reasons,Islamic Banks development in CICA member states is imbalanced.Sukuk(Islamic Bonds)development in CICA member states is mainly sovereign Sukuk.The share of Islamic Funds assets in CICA member states is very low.The tak
aful sector in Iran is comparatively developed in CICA member states.Islamic Financial development and cooperation in CICA member states is mainly concentrated in Islamic countries.However,it has expanded to Non-Islamic Countries.In the future,Islamic finance development and cooperation will play an active role in the construction of the B&R.