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)