Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Egypt for a state visit this week. He flew from a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Kyrgyzstan to Egypt.
According to Chinese state media Xinhua, on Tuesday, Xi said that “China and Egypt set an example of friendship, solidarity, and coordination between developing countries, with strong political mutual trust, fruitful mutually beneficial cooperation, and close and effective coordination in multilateral affairs.”
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Xi with a 21-gun salute and honor guard at Cairo’s Ittihadiya Palace on Wednesday, Egyptian Ahram Online media said.
He spoke after arriving in Cairo for a state visit at Sisi’s invitation. “China and Egypt are both ancient civilizations, with a traditional friendship that has endured for thousands of years and stood the test of time,” Xi said.
“Over the past 70 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Xi said, the two countries have stood by each other and pursued win-win cooperation, regardless of changes in the international and regional situations,” Xinhua noted.
The report added that “the two heads of state have jointly led the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership to achieve leapfrog development. Xi said that during the visit, he will have an in-depth exchange of views with Sisi on China-Egypt relations, all-round cooperation between the two countries, and international and regional issues of common concern.”
Countries emphasize importance of multi-polar world order in SCO
The visit came after the SCO meetings in which China, Russia, and other countries emphasized the importance of the multipolar world order. Photos in Egypt showed the Chinese president arriving and a motorcade in Cairo.
Sisi praised the visit. “Sisi’s message was delivered by Minister of State for Information Diaa Rashwan at a ceremony held in Cairo on Tuesday, jointly organized by the Egyptian ministry and China Media Group, to celebrate the occasion,” Egypt’s Ahram Online noted.
“The event coincided with Xi’s arrival in Cairo for his first state visit to Egypt in a decade. In his message, Sisi welcomed Xi, saying the Chinese president was visiting Egypt as a dear guest on the banks of the Nile and a friend of the Egyptian people, who hold “all love and affection” for the Chinese people,” the report added.
“The Egyptian president highlighted growing cooperation in trade, investment, tourism, and cultural exchanges, as well as people-to-people ties, particularly among Egyptian and Chinese youth. He said bilateral relations were built on mutual respect, shared interests, and cooperation, as well as efforts to promote global peace, justice, equality, and comprehensive development.”
“Today, as we welcome Xi to his second home, Egypt, we are embarking on a new phase of our increasingly developed relations,” Sisi added. The countries expect a new phase of growing ties to be entered, according to Ahram Egyptian media.
“China and Egypt share a deep and longstanding friendship that has grown stronger over the decades,” Xi said, noting that “Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China.”
The visit comes as Egypt and Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding at the Sarajevo expo. Ahram reported that Egypt’s Heliopolis and Helwan military factories signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with “Turkey’s state-owned MKE conglomerate to expand defense-industry cooperation on the sidelines of a defense expo in Sarajevo, Egypt’s Ministry of Military Production said Wednesday.”
This illustrates increasingly close ties between Cairo and Ankara, as Turkey has also signed on to a pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. It also comes after a large Israeli multi-billion-dollar air defense deal with Greece.