Ahmed Darwish (L), head of the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone), speaks during the first round of the annual Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Conference held in Cairo, Egypt on April 1, 2017. The first round of the annual Belt and Road Industrial and Commercial Conference, organized by Egyptian Businessmen's Association and China Federation of Industrial Economics, kicked off Saturday in Cairo. Held under the auspices of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, some 150 Egyptian businessmen and 160 others from the BRICS states took part in the conference, besides large financial institutions including China Development Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, African Development Bank and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa.