Wang Di — Director-General of the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs — stated that Sino-Egyptian relations have become a model of solidarity, cooperation, and mutual benefit under the leadership of the two heads of state.
In a press conference held by the Chinese Embassy in Cairo, Wang added that the Chinese side is ready to work with the Egyptian side to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state and consolidate mutual trust at the political level.
Moreover, efforts will be made to harmonise China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Egypt’s 2030 Vision, expand practical cooperation, and intensify communication and coordination in international and regional affairs. This is in addition to working together to defend the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and push for the democratisation of international relations.
Wang also stressed that China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and the largest developing country in the world, just as Egypt is a large Arab and African country and an important emerging economy, and that under the current circumstances, the comprehensive nature of Chinese-Egyptian relations is quite important.
China has been Egypt’s largest trading partner for eight consecutive years, as the volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached $20bn in 2021 — an increase of 37% compared to 2020.
He added that joint projects between the two countries are progressing smoothly, such as establishing the Central Business District in the New Administrative Capital, the Electric Train Project at 10th of Ramadan City, and the China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, which has provided more than 40,000 job opportunities for citizens.
This is in addition to the first joint production line in Africa for a vaccine against the emerging coronavirus, which was completed in cooperation with China.
Wang explained that the situation in the Middle East is witnessing intertwined changes and turmoil in light of overlapping and interacting effects between unprecedented changes in the world in a hundred years and the pandemic of the century, which has brought challenges to security and development in the Middle East.
