Chinese FM’s visit to Egypt aims to strengthen cooperation in new year
The bilateral relations between China and Egypt got a strong push at the start of the new year as Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a visit to Egypt from January 7 to 9.
During his African tour running until January 13, the Chinese foreign minister also visited Djibouti, Eritrea, Burundi and Zimbabwe.
This is the 30th consecutive year since 1991 for Chinese foreign ministers to visit Africa at the beginning of every year. Such visits aim at highlighting the great importance China attaches to its relations with Africa while demonstrating their enduring friendship.
Making Egypt, which currently chairs the African Union, the first stop for the Chinese foreign minister reflects the strong relations between Beijing and Cairo, especially after their bilateral ties were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2014.
The comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Egypt witnessed an unprecedented push in 2019 during which the two countries deepened cooperation in various fields.
“For 30 years, China has been keen on starting every year with an important visit by the Chinese foreign minister to countries in Africa. This means that China is greatly interested in strengthening its relations with the African continent,” Samir Ghattas, president of the
Cairo-based Middle East Forum for Strategic Studies, told Xinhua.
Egypt and other African countries highly appreciate this visit given the distinguished position China enjoys in Africa, Ghattas noted, saying China has great economic, cultural and political ties with Africa.
“China has important and significant investments in many African countries. Such cooperation has contributed greatly to the human, financial and economic development of many African countries,” the expert explained.
In 2019, China and Egypt signed several agreements in various fields, mainly involving infrastructure and industrialization projects in Egypt, under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by China in 2013 which seeks mutual development of participating states via win-win partnerships.
Under the BRI, China State Construction Engineering Corporation, a world-leading construction company, is currently building a huge business district in Egypt’s new administrative capital city, some 50 kilometers east of Cairo, including a 385-meter-high tower that will be the tallest skyscraper in Africa upon completion.
Other renowned Chinese corporations are also working on a number of giant energy projects in Egypt, including Sinohydro, Dongfang Electric, Shanghai Electric, State Grid Corporation of China and Chinese tech giant Huawei.
In September, Egyptian and Chinese teams announced the start of the implementation phase of the China-funded “MisrSat II” satellite project, a small high-resolution remote sensing satellite.
During the kick-off meeting, which was held at the Egyptian Space City near Egypt’s new administrative capital, the two sides signed the documents of launching the project funded by the Chinese government.