Push China-Egypt Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a New Level

Push China-Egypt Comprehensive Strategic Partnership to a New Level
Source: People's Daily

Reporter: Zhou Yun, Huang Pei, Zhao Jingyue

On March 23, 2020, President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Sisi pointed out in a telephone conversation that China attaches great importance to the development of China-Egypt relations and is willing to work with Egypt to deepen practical cooperation in various fields, and to build China-Egypt relations into a China-Arab and China-Africa relationship. A pilot model for a community with a shared future.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. Egypt is the first Arab country and African country to establish diplomatic relations with New China. China-Egypt relations are a model of unity, cooperation, mutual benefit and win-win between China and Arab countries and China-Africa. Over the past 65 years, China and Egypt have always watched and helped each other and moved forward hand in hand. The relationship between the two countries has withstood the test of the changing international situation and has always maintained healthy and stable development. As the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" initiative is deeply connected with Egypt's "2030 Vision", the traditional friendship and pragmatic cooperation between China and Egypt have continued to deepen, pushing the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level.

Pragmatic cooperation advances steadily

In the vast desert 50 kilometers east of Cairo, the capital of Egypt, tall buildings are rising from the ground. On the morning of June 17, local time, the main structure of the logo tower in the central business district of Egypt's new administrative capital, built by Chinese enterprises, was capped. Egyptian Housing Minister Asim Ghazal and Chinese guests jointly completed the last 1 cubic meter of concrete pouring of the logo tower. He said: "Today we have witnessed the results achieved by Egypt and China through cooperative efforts. We believe that today's (officially capped) project will become a new landmark in Egypt."

In recent years, China and Egypt have strengthened the docking of development strategies, jointly built the "Belt and Road", and expanded cooperation in infrastructure construction, production capacity, science and technology and other fields. During the prevention and control of the epidemic, practical cooperation between China and Egypt maintained a good momentum of development, and major cooperation projects were carried out in an orderly manner: on the banks of the Suez River, Chinese enterprises are helping Egypt to build container terminals; on the coast of the Red Sea, as of the end of April this year, the TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone jointly built by China and Egypt has attracted 102 enterprises to settle in, directly solving about 4000 jobs and industry driving more than 36000 jobs, the Egyptian Satellite Assembly Integration Test Center project and the Egyptian Satellite II implementation agreement signed by China and Egypt are advancing simultaneously......

According to Chinese customs statistics, the import and export volume of bilateral goods between China and Egypt reached 14.566 billion billion US dollars in 2020, up 10.34 percent year-on-year. Since 2013, China has been Egypt's largest trading partner for eight consecutive years. In the first quarter of this year, the import and export volume of bilateral goods between China and Egypt was 4.176 billion billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 32.14 percent over the same period last year, and another record high.

China has become the most active and fastest growing country in recent years. In 2020, China's new direct investment in Egypt will be 0.19 billion US dollars, and the investment stock in Egypt will exceed 1.2 billion US dollars. In the first quarter of this year, China's new direct investment in Egypt was 83 million billion US dollars, up 134 percent year on year. At present, Chinese and Egyptian enterprises are negotiating cooperation in the fields of electric vehicles, agriculture and intelligent transportation.

"The Egyptian side welcomes more Chinese companies to invest in Egypt and is willing to work with China to further enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership between Egypt and China." Sethi said.

People-to-people exchanges are closer

On June 15, the opening ceremony of the "Chinese Bridge" Club Cairo Station was held in Cairo. Egyptian Deputy Minister of Higher Education Mohamed Ayman Ashur, who attended the unveiling ceremony, said that Chinese has become one of the most important languages in the world. At present, young Egyptian students have spontaneously formed an upsurge of learning Chinese.

Egypt is the first country in the Middle East and Africa to teach Chinese. At present, 16 Egyptian colleges and universities offer Chinese majors or Chinese courses. In May of this year, the Egyptian Ministry of Education announced that from next year, 10 middle schools in Egypt will be used as pilot schools to offer Chinese as a second foreign language elective course. Gamal Elshali, vice president of Cairo University, said: "I hope that Chinese teaching will become a channel for cultural exchanges between the peoples of Egypt and China and promote people-to-people bonds."

"Egypt-China cultural exchanges have a good foundation for cooperation." Mohamed Ersa, former Deputy Minister of Information of Egypt, said that through frequent exchanges in the cultural field between the two countries, the people of the two countries have enhanced mutual understanding, and the friendship between Egypt and China has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

Over the past 65 years, China-Egypt people-to-people exchanges have yielded fruitful results. According to data from the Ministry of Tourism and Cultural Relics of Egypt, China has become Egypt's fourth largest source of tourists, with hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt every year; as of the end of 2019, more than 2800 Egyptian students and 1200 Chinese students are studying in the two countries; Last year, China and Egypt held 52 online cultural exchange activities, attracting nearly 10 million visitors and more than 650000 people to participate in the interaction......

During the prevention and control of the epidemic, with the joint efforts of China and Egypt, the two Luban workshops in Egypt's Ain Shams University and the Cairo School of Advanced Maintenance and Technology were completed on schedule, and the training of teachers for Egyptian teachers and the development of an advanced training syllabus for junior high schools have been completed. "Egyptian vocational and technical education is undergoing reform, and Luban Workshop has brought advanced educational concepts, teaching standards and training equipment." Egypt's Deputy Minister of Education and Technology Mohamed Mujahid said.

Mahmoud Alam, former Egyptian ambassador to China, said that with the docking of Egypt's "2030 Vision" and the "Belt and Road Initiative" initiative, people-to-people exchanges between Egypt and China have become closer, laying the foundation for Egypt and China to jointly build a community with a shared future and deepen comprehensive strategic partnership. In a wide range of fields such as education and health, Egypt-China cooperation has great achievements.

Anti-epidemic cooperation sets an example

An Arab proverb says, "A friend who appears in times of difficulty is a true friend." In the face of the challenges of the epidemic, China and Egypt have helped each other and written a new chapter of sharing weal and woe, contributing to the building of a community of human health and health.

During the critical period of China's fight against the epidemic, the Egyptian government and people expressed their firm support for China. Sisi sent Minister of Health and Population Hala Zayed to visit China as a special presidential envoy with anti-epidemic materials, and three World Cultural Heritage sites in Egypt lit up "China Red" in the form of light shows and raised five-star red flags to express their firm support for China.

China is one of the earliest and largest countries to provide anti-epidemic assistance to Egypt. It has provided four batches of anti-epidemic aid materials to Egypt, provided the latest version of prevention, control and diagnosis and treatment programs at the first time, carried out many video exchanges between Chinese and Egyptian experts, established a counterpart cooperation hospital mechanism, and assisted Egypt in establishing a mask production line. "The states are different, and we share weal and woe." On the Chinese government's aid to Egypt's anti-epidemic materials, the poem of the famous Egyptian poet Ahmed Shaoji vividly interprets the friendship between the people of China and Egypt.

China has provided two batches of vaccine assistance to Egypt and supported Egypt in purchasing Chinese vaccines. Egypt is the first country to carry out Phase III clinical trials of the national drug vaccine, and is cooperating with China in the production of the new crown vaccine.

At the end of May this year, the "China-Africa Counterpart Hospital Cooperation Mechanism Project" was officially launched. Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital and Egypt's Ain Shams University Hospital held a framework agreement cloud signing ceremony. The two sides will conduct remote consultation, personnel training, and discipline construction. With practical cooperation, China will further help Egypt improve its epidemic prevention capabilities and health services, and promote the construction of a China-Egypt and China-Africa health community.

Hala Zayed said that the unity and cooperation between Egypt and China in the fight against the epidemic has further deepened the traditional friendship and political mutual trust between the two countries, and has also set an example for the international community in the fight against the epidemic.

Egyptian Prime Minister Madbouli said that in recent years, Egypt and China have carried out practical cooperation in various fields, and the two countries have achieved fruitful results in anti-epidemic cooperation, which further confirms the special friendship of Egypt-China relations. Egypt is willing to work with China to accelerate cooperation in the fight against the epidemic. It is believed that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Egypt and China will become stronger after the epidemic has been tempered, and the friendly cooperation between the two countries will reach a new level.