China and Egypt join hands for development and common prosperity

Source, People's Network-People's Daily

Reporter Huang Peizhao
China and Egypt are good friends who share the same interests and trust each other, as well as good partners for joint development and common prosperity. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. Over the past 10 years, the two heads of state have jointly led the vigorous development of bilateral relations. China-Egypt relations have become a vivid portrayal of China's solidarity and cooperation with Arab, African, Islamic and developing countries for mutual benefit and win-win results.

Building "the belt and road initiative" Has Fruitful Results

On May 17, the China-Egypt "Two Ports and Two Zones" Joint Development Promotion Association was held in the China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone (TEDA Cooperation Zone) in Suez Province, Egypt. Institutions and enterprises from China and Egypt have signed a number of memorandums of understanding on cooperation.

The TEDA Cooperation Zone is located at the Sukhnai Port in Suez Province, Egypt. It is a landmark project for the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" and the development plan of the Suez Canal Corridor in Egypt. Hundreds of Chinese-funded enterprises in the TEDA Cooperation Zone have created local taxes, stimulated employment, and injected impetus into local economic development.

Walid Jamaldin, chairman of the General Administration of the Suez Canal Economic Zone in Egypt, said that the TEDA Cooperation Zone helps the development of Egypt and regional countries and provides opportunities for all parties. Egypt will deepen cooperation with China, strive to promote more industries to Egypt, and expand exports while meeting local consumer demand.

Egypt was one of the first countries to join the "the belt and road initiative" initiative. The two countries have carried out fruitful cooperation under the framework of jointly building the "Belt and Road". Many projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises have been steadily implemented locally, benefiting the people of both sides.

As the first electrified railway in Egypt, the Ramadan 10th City Light Rail Railway connects the urban area of Cairo with the new administrative capital, the 10th City of Ramadan and the satellite cities along the eastern route, benefiting more than 500 million residents; since the 500 kV substation project in Exadia was completed and put into operation for more than a year, it has ensured the stability and reliability of the power grid and eased the shortage of electricity in the region; projects such as the Sededong Port Phase II Container Terminal and the Sukhna Second Container Terminal have greatly improved the cargo handling capacity of Egyptian ports and made important contributions to the development of the Suez Canal Corridor; China successfully launched the Egyptian Satellite II and helped Egypt become the first An African country with complete satellite assembly and integrated testing capabilities......

Dia Helmi, secretary-general of the Egyptian-Chinese Council of Commerce, said that under the framework of the joint construction of the "Belt and Road", the level of mutually beneficial cooperation between Egypt and China has continued to improve, and a large number of cooperation projects have promoted trade exchanges and connectivity, bringing positive effects to the development of the two countries.

Egyptian President Sisi said that Egypt and China have achieved remarkable results in jointly building "the belt and road initiative. Egypt attaches great importance to the comprehensive strategic partnership between Egypt and China and is willing to establish a closer partnership with China and expand cooperation in various fields. I would like to thank Chinese enterprises for their important contributions to Egypt's national construction and economic development, and welcome more enterprises to invest in Egypt.

Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation Flourish

China is firmly in the position of Egypt's largest trading partner, and it is also one of the countries with the most active and fastest growth in investment in Egypt in recent years. Egyptian fresh oranges, grapes, frozen strawberries, dates, fresh pomegranate and other high-quality agricultural products have landed in the Chinese market. In September last year, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement to allow Egyptian fresh mangoes that meet the plant quarantine requirements to be exported to China. Relevant departments of both sides are actively promoting the export of Egyptian dried chili to China.

Egypt is one of the guest countries of the first China International Import Expo and has participated in the Expo for six consecutive years. The 7th CIIE Promotion Conference was held in Cairo, the capital of Egypt, in April this year. Egyptian political and business people attending the meeting said that Egyptian enterprises look forward to continuing to explore the Chinese market and share the dividends of China's development by participating in the Expo. Sharif Mawaldi, chairman of the Egyptian General Administration of Exhibitions and Conferences, said that the CIIE provides a good opportunity for Egyptian companies to display and sell Egyptian products and promote "Made in Egypt" on a global scale. This year, many Egyptian companies are also preparing to participate in the 7th Expo.

Driving northeast from Cairo for more than an hour, you will arrive at the Haier Egyptian Ecological Park in the city of the 10th of Ramadan. In the spacious and bright factory building, the three assembly lines of air conditioner, washing machine and TV are all concentrated in an open space. Local workers in the Chinese master under the guidance of skilled work, electronic circuits, chassis, heat sink and other processing links in an orderly manner.

In May this year, Haier Egypt Ecological Park officially opened. In the park, the air-conditioning and TV production lines have been put into trial production in March this year. Together with the washing machine production line put into production in May, the annual production capacity of home appliances is nearly one million units. Refrigerators, freezers and other categories are included in the second phase of the project planning. The whole elements and whole process of the park can be visually controllable, which can not only optimize resource allocation and management decision-making, but also accurately analyze the energy consumption of water and electricity in the park, and effectively save energy. Ahmed Mossad Jandi, general manager of Haier Egypt Trading Company, said that the ecological park will create more than 3000 local jobs.

China is deepening cooperation with Egypt to create new growth points in the fields of cloud computing, digital economy and artificial intelligence to help Egypt's digital transformation. Not long ago, the Huawei public cloud Cairo node operated by Chinese enterprises was officially launched. This is the first public cloud service in Egypt and even in northern Africa. It can provide more than 200 kinds of cloud services including artificial intelligence platform, data platform and development platform. According to reports, in the next five years, Huawei will train 10000 local developers and 100000 digital professionals to promote local digital transformation.

Sharif Yahya, the first vice chairman of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said that China is Egypt's largest trading partner, and Egypt is China's important trading partner in Africa. The Cairo Chamber of Commerce is committed to finding trade and investment cooperation opportunities for Egyptian and Chinese enterprises and providing corresponding facilities.

Civilized exchanges, mutual learning, beauty and sharing

In July this year, the "Top of the Pyramid: Ancient Egyptian Civilization Exhibition" will open at the Shanghai Museum. The exhibition will display more than 700 cultural relics from different periods of ancient Egyptian civilization, of which more than 95% of the exhibits come to Asia for the first time, which is the largest exhibition of ancient Egyptian cultural relics in Asia.

Ismail, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of cultural relics of the Ministry of tourism and cultural relics of Egypt, said that the exhibition will show the profound historical ties between Egypt and China for thousands of years. The joint organization of this exhibition by Egypt and China can promote cooperation between cultural institutions of the two countries and promote the concerted efforts of both sides to jointly build an open and inclusive society.

Both China and Egypt have a long history and splendid civilization. In recent years, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries have continued to deepen and strengthen the friendship between the two peoples. China and Egypt have active exchanges and cooperation in the fields of culture, education, news, science and technology. The two sides have held cultural weeks, film festivals, cultural relics exhibitions, photography exhibitions and other colorful activities, which are well received by the people of the two countries.

In recent years, China and Egypt have made remarkable achievements in cooperation in the field of archaeology. In 2018, the first Sino-Egyptian joint archaeological project, the Sino-Egyptian Joint Archaeological Project of the Montu Temple in Luxor, was launched at the Montu Temple site, and 18 months of archaeological excavations have been completed. Chinese technology and Chinese equipment provide strong support for joint archaeological work.

Site of the joint archeological project of the temple of mengtu in china-eluxor. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Meng Tao

Jia Xiaobing, the Chinese executive leader of the Sino-Egyptian joint archaeological project, told reporters that after 60 days of field work, archaeological workers have for the first time completely drawn the overall outline of the fourth temple in the Osiris Temple area, taking another step towards drawing a complete plan of the area. The Sino-Egyptian joint archaeological team will carry out a new season of archaeological excavations in December this year, when more archaeological achievements will be published, more historical mysteries will be uncovered, and greater contributions will be made to Sino-Egyptian archaeological cooperation and exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

In September 2022, Egypt launched a pilot project for Chinese education in secondary education, marking the entry of Chinese teaching into the Egyptian national education system. At present, nearly 30 universities in Egypt have opened Chinese majors; 4 Confucius Institutes, 2 Confucius Classrooms, and 2 Luban workshops have been built. Nasser Mandor, President of Suez Canal University in Egypt, said that Egypt and China have carried out extensive cooperation in the field of education. Suez Canal University is committed to strengthening cooperation with Chinese universities and creating exchange opportunities for Egyptian middle school students. The people of the two countries use education as a bridge, learn from each other, share the United States and the United States, and the profound friendship will last forever.

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