Construction of the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, a key project of the Forum on China-African Cooperation, is expected to be finished around 2018, a Chinese source said Saturday.

The zone reflected China's willingness to invest in Africa and help develop the continent, Yang Zhiqiang, president of the Tianjin Economic & Technological Development Area Suez International Cooperation Company, told an investment forum.

The company is a shareholder of Egypt Teda, a Sino-Egyptian joint venture responsible for the development, construction, management, and administration of the zone.

Yang said the Suez zone project aimed to attract 2 billion yuan (293 million U.S. dollars) investment from more than 50 companies during the next 10 years.

After its first phase is finished in 2011, it would help create 10,000 jobs, mostly for the locals, he said.

The zone covers an area of about 5 square kilometers, with the first phase covering 1.067 square kilometers.

In Africa, China also is building six other economic and trade cooperation zones in countries such as Zambia, Nigeria and Ethiopia, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 19, 2009)