Chinese vice premier meets Egyptian leaders over further cooperation

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong met here on Sunday with Egyptian leaders, including President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, over further cooperation between China and the Arab country.

"The Chinese government will work on improving our mutual exchange and cooperation in various fields including education, science, culture, health and cultural heritage protection, and to expand interaction between our two peoples to make new achievements in China-Egypt cooperation," Liu told the Egyptian president during the meeting.

The Chinese vice premier stressed China's willingness to promote high-level coordination and push forward joint national projects in such fields as infrastructure and energy under the framework of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road initiative.

Liu's official visit to Cairo came two months after Chinese President Xi Jinping made his first state visit to Egypt, which coincided with the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Proposed by Xi in 2013, the main idea of the Belt and Road Initiative is to revive ancient trade routes to link China with over 60 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Chinese vice premier described Xi's recent visit to Egypt as "successful," saying that it added "new motivation" to the development of China-Egypt relations.

Liu said her visit to Cairo is a step forward in the implementation of the agreements recently reached by the Chinese and the Egyptian leaders.

During Xi's visit to Cairo, the Chinese president invited his Egyptian counterpart to attend the upcoming G20 summit to be held in the Chinese city of Hangzhou in September.

"I treasure the invitation of President Xi and I would like to attend the G20 summit," Sisi told Liu during their talks.

"President Xi's visit to Egypt has enhanced the strategic partnership between Egypt and China and also boosted exchange and cooperation between the two countries in various fields," Sisi added.

The Egyptian president called for further mutual political support and coordination between Egypt and China on international and regional issues, as well as expansion of the bilateral win-win economic cooperation.

Sisi stressed that Egypt regards China as an important strategic partner in its national projects in various fields, expressing Egypt's willingness to improve its development strategy and be a key partner within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

After meeting with Sisi, Liu also discussed with Prime Minister Sherif Ismail the development of the China-Egypt relations.

"The relationship between China and Egypt has become a model for those between China and Arab and African states and for South-South cooperation," Liu told the Egyptian prime minister.

She added that President Sisi's visit to China in late 2014 and President Xi's visit to Egypt in January have pushed the bilateral ties to a higher level.

For his part, Ismail said that Egypt appreciates the recent development of the Egyptian-Chinese relations and expressed the hope for further cooperation with China in fields of education, science and culture.

"Egypt would like to make joint efforts with China to plan and promote bilateral exchange and cooperation in a comprehensive way," he added.

Following their talks, Liu and Ismail witnessed the signing of five memorandums of understanding between China and Egypt in the educational and scientific fields, including mutual scholarships and joint scientific programs. Endi