Holders of Chinese UnionPay banking cards will be able to pay
for their shopping, dining, travel and medical bills and draw cash
in local currency in Egypt in June, said a senior executive of the
National Bank of Egypt (NBE).
Yasser El Negouly, chief representative of the NBE Shanghai
Representative Office, told Xinhua that the biggest commercial bank
in Egypt is working closely in this regard with China UnionPay, but
he declined to give the specific date of when this service will
officially begin.
Trial operations begun in Egypt since March this year, according
to China UnionPay, the largest bank card network in China.
Egypt will be the only country in Africa as well as in the Arab
world to accept China UnionPay banking cards, Negouly said.
Currently, only bankcards with logos like Visa or MasterCard are
accepted in Egypt, he said prior to the 2007 Annual Meetings of the
Board of Governors of African Development Bank Group.
A total of 52,000 Chinese visited Egypt in 2006, China's Foreign
Ministry had quoted statistics from the Egyptian government as
saying.
Currently, China UnionPay has its service expanded to Hong Kong
and Macao special administrative regions, and Japan, the United
States, southeast Asia and some European countries.
The NBE established its Shanghai Representative Office in 1999,
responsible for its Asian businesses.
(Xinhua News Agency May 14, 2007)