Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi called on Sunday to strengthen coordination between Egypt and China in regional and international affairs, and more generally to promote Arab-Chinese and African-Chinese cooperation.
Mr. Al-Sisi made the remarks during his meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Cairo, the Egyptian capital.
He asked Qin to convey his sincere greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping, and again expressed congratulations on the successful holding of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October 2022.
China is a great country, and nothing can stop its development, the Egyptian president said, adding that the friendship between his country and China was historically “indestructible”.
Egypt will continue to firmly adhere to the one-China principle, and resolutely oppose any interference in China’s internal affairs, al-Sisi said.
Hailing the successful results achieved by Egypt and China in jointly promoting the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Sisi said Chinese companies are welcome to invest and do business in Egypt.
In light of China’s recent optimization and adjustments in the prevention and control of COVID-19, he also extended a warm welcome to Chinese citizens, and hoped that they would come to visit his country. as soon as possible.
Qin, for his part, conveyed President Xi Jinping’s warmest greetings and best wishes to Mr. Al-Sisi, stressing that China and Egypt have always supported each other, and forged deep friendship in their joint efforts to develop, promote peace and safeguard justice.
The heads of state of the two countries maintain close exchanges and enjoy a high level of mutual trust, which has given strong impetus to the development of the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership, Qin said.
China greatly appreciates Egypt’s reaffirmation of its firm adherence to the one-China principle, and also supports Egypt in finding a development path suited to its national conditions and defending its sovereignty. of its security and development interests, he noted.
Qin said he hoped for closer alignment between the respective development strategies of the two countries, and looked forward to seeing them accelerate the implementation of their key cooperation projects, achieve new progress in building the BRI and implement the results of the China-Arab States Summit.
Reiterating China’s support for Egypt’s positive role in promoting peace and stability in the Middle East, he said his country is willing to work together with the Egyptian side to promote peace and long-term stability in the region and achieving an early and just settlement of the Palestinian question.
Qin then held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri. During their meeting, the two sides hailed the exemplary role and strategic importance of Sino-Egyptian solidarity and cooperation.
The two ministers further pledged to jointly implement the important consensus of views reached by the two heads of state, to continue to improve their bilateral relations, to strengthen their multilateral coordination, to jointly safeguard the fundamental norms governing international relations and to uphold international equity and justice.
