China and Egypt Join Hands for Development and Common Prosperity

China and Egypt are good friends with shared aspirations and mutual trust, and good partners for common development and prosperity. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. Over the past decade, the two heads of state have jointly guided the vigorous development of bilateral relations. China-Egypt relations have become a vivid example of unity, cooperation and mutual benefit between China and Arab, African, Islamic and developing countries.

　　Fruitful Belt and Road Cooperation

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

Located at Sokhna Port in Suez Province, Egypt, the TEDA Cooperation Zone is a landmark project aligning the Belt and Road Initiative with Egypt's Suez Canal Corridor development plan. More than 100 Chinese-funded enterprises in the zone generate tax revenue, boost employment and inject momentum into local economic development.

Waleed Gamal El-Din, Chairman of the General Authority for the Suez Canal Economic Zone, said the TEDA Cooperation Zone supports the development of Egypt and regional countries and provides opportunities for all parties. Egypt will deepen cooperation with China, strive to bring more industries to Egypt, and expand exports while meeting local consumption demand.

Egypt is one of the first countries to join the Belt and Road Initiative. Under the Belt and Road framework, the two countries have carried out fruitful cooperation, and numerous projects undertaken by Chinese enterprises have been steadily implemented locally, benefiting the people of both sides.

As Egypt's first electrified railway, the 10th of Ramadan City Light Rail Transit connects downtown Cairo with the New Administrative Capital, 10th of Ramadan City and satellite cities along the eastern line, benefiting more than 5 million residents. Since the Egypt-Sadat 500 kV substation project was completed and put into operation more than a year ago, it has ensured the stability and reliability of the power grid and eased power shortages in the region. Projects such as the Phase II container terminal at East Port Said and the Second Container Terminal at Sokhna have greatly enhanced Egypt's port cargo handling capacity and made important contributions to the development of the Suez Canal Corridor. China successfully launched Egypt's MisrSat-2 satellite and helped Egypt become the first African country with complete satellite assembly, integration and testing capabilities...

Diaa Helmy, Secretary-General of the Egyptian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that under the Belt and Road framework, the level of mutually beneficial cooperation between Egypt and China has continued to rise, and a large number of cooperation projects have promoted trade exchanges and connectivity, bringing positive effects to the development of both countries.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said that Egypt-China Belt and Road cooperation has achieved remarkable results. Egypt attaches great importance to the Egypt-China comprehensive strategic partnership and is willing to build closer partnership with China and expand cooperation in various fields. He thanked Chinese enterprises for their important contributions to Egypt's national construction and economic development and welcomed more enterprises to invest in Egypt.

　Booming Economic, Trade and Investment Cooperation

China has remained Egypt's largest trading partner and is also one of the countries with the most active and fastest-growing investment in Egypt in recent years. Quality agricultural products from Egypt, such as fresh oranges, grapes, frozen strawberries, dates and fresh pomegranates, have successively entered the Chinese market. Last September, the General Administration of Customs of China issued an announcement allowing the import of Egyptian fresh mangoes that meet phytosanitary requirements. Relevant departments of both sides are actively promoting the export of Egyptian dried chili peppers to China.

Egypt was one of the guest countries of honor at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) and has participated in the CIIE for six consecutive years. The promotion event for the seventh CIIE was held in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, in April this year. Egyptian political and business figures attending the event said that Egyptian enterprises look forward to continuing to explore the Chinese market through the CIIE and share in China's development dividends. Sherif El-Mawardy, Chairman of the Egyptian General Authority for Exhibitions and Conferences, said that the CIIE provides a good opportunity for Egyptian enterprises to display and sell Egyptian products and promote "Made in Egypt" globally. Many Egyptian enterprises are also preparing to participate in the seventh CIIE this year.

Driving more than an hour northeast from Cairo brings you to the Haier Egypt Ecological Park in 10th of Ramadan City. In the spacious and bright factory building, three production lines for air conditioners, washing machines and televisions are concentrated in one open space. Local workers skillfully operate under the guidance of Chinese masters, and processing steps such as electronic circuits, casings and heat sinks proceed in an orderly manner.

In May this year, the Haier Egypt Ecological Park officially opened. In the park, the air conditioner and television production lines began trial production in March this year. Together with the washing machine production line put into operation in May, the annual production capacity of home appliances is nearly one million units. Categories such as refrigerators and freezers are included in the phase II plan of the project. All elements and the entire process of the park are visible and controllable, which can not only optimize resource allocation and management decisions, but also accurately analyze energy consumption such as water and electricity in the park to effectively save energy. Ahmed Mossad El-Gendy, General Manager of Haier Egypt Trading Company, said the ecological park will create more than 3,000 local jobs.

China is deepening cooperation with Egypt to create new growth points in fields such as cloud computing, the digital economy and artificial intelligence, and to support Egypt's digital transformation. Not long ago, the Huawei public cloud Cairo node operated by a Chinese enterprise was officially launched. This is the first public cloud service in Egypt and even North Africa, providing more than 200 cloud services including an AI platform, data platform and development platform. It is reported that in the next five years, Huawei will train 10,000 local developers and 100,000 digital professionals in Egypt to promote local digital transformation.

Sherif Yahya, First Vice Chairman of the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said that China is Egypt's largest trading partner, and Egypt is an important trading partner of China in Africa. The Cairo Chamber of Commerce is committed to finding trade and investment cooperation opportunities for Egyptian and Chinese enterprises and providing corresponding facilitation.

　　Mutual Learning Among Civilizations for Shared Beauty

In July this year, "On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilization of Ancient Egypt" will open at the Shanghai Museum. The exhibition will display more than 700 cultural relics from different periods of ancient Egyptian civilization, with more than 95 percent of the exhibits coming to Asia for the first time, making it the largest exhibition of ancient Egyptian artifacts in Asia.

Ismail, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities of Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, said that the exhibition will showcase the profound historical ties between Egypt and China that have lasted for thousands of years. The joint hosting of the exhibition by Egypt and China can promote cooperation between cultural institutions of the two countries and encourage both sides to work together to build open and inclusive societies.

China and Egypt both have long histories and splendid civilizations. In recent years, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between the two countries have continued to deepen and have steadily enhanced the friendship between the two peoples. China and Egypt have active exchanges and cooperation in culture, education, news, science and technology and other fields. The two sides have held a rich variety of activities such as cultural weeks, film festivals, cultural relic exhibitions and photography exhibitions, which are deeply welcomed by the people of both countries.

In recent years, China-Egypt cooperation in archaeology has achieved remarkable results. In 2018, the first China-Egypt joint archaeological project—the China-Egypt Joint Archaeological Project at the Montu Temple in Luxor—was launched at the Montu Temple site, and 18 months of archaeological excavation have been completed so far. Chinese technology and Chinese equipment have provided strong support for the joint archaeological work.

Jia Xiaobing, Chinese executive leader of the China-Egypt joint archaeological project, told reporters that after 60 days of field work, archaeologists for the first time completely mapped the overall outline of the fourth shrine in the Osiris shrine area, taking another step toward drawing a complete plan of the area. The China-Egypt joint archaeological team will conduct a new season of archaeological excavation in December this year, when more archaeological results will be revealed, more historical mysteries will be uncovered, and greater contributions will be made to China-Egypt archaeological cooperation and mutual learning among civilizations.

In September 2022, Egypt launched a pilot project for Chinese language education at the secondary education stage, marking the entry of Chinese language teaching into Egypt's national education system. At present, nearly 30 universities in Egypt offer Chinese language majors; four Confucius Institutes, two Confucius Classrooms and two Luban Workshops have been established. Nasser Mandour, President of Suez Canal University, said that in the field of education, Egypt and China have carried out extensive cooperation. Suez Canal University is committed to strengthening cooperation with Chinese universities and creating exchange opportunities for Egyptian and Chinese students. With education as a bridge, the people of the two countries learn from each other and share beauty together, and their profound friendship will endure and grow ever stronger.