Chinese President Xi Jinping meets Egyptian President on bilateral ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday held talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Beijing, and the two leaders agreed to develop a stronger China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.

Sisi, on a state visit to China, is to attend the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled for September 3 and 4.

Xi said that China highly values developing China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership.

China will continue to support the Egyptian government's efforts to maintain stability, develop an economy and improve people's livelihood, support it to take a development road according to its national conditions, and to play a bigger role in the international and regional affairs, he added.

China is willing to work with Egypt to strengthen strategic communication and coordination, to safeguard common interests, he added.

Xi stressed that the two sides should support each other on issues concerning each other's core interests, exchange views in time on bilateral and major international issues, share experience in the governance of the country and maintain close exchanges at all levels and in various fields.

China values Egypt as an important and long-term partner for the joint construction of Belt and Road Initiative, and is willing to coordinate with Egypt's development strategies of Vision 2030 and the development of the Suez Canal Corridor, so as to promote pragmatic cooperation between the two countries and enhance anti-terrorism and security cooperation, said Xi.

Both China and Egypt are ancient civilizations, and the two countries should jointly promote dialog and exchanges between civilizations, he added.

Sisi said that Egypt and China maintain traditional friendship and mutual trust, with similar views on major international issues.

Egypt gives priority to the Egypt-China comprehensive strategic partnership, said Sisi.

Among the first countries to support the Belt and Road Initiative, Egypt firmly believes that the initiative will bring great opportunities to cooperation between Egypt and China, as well as in the international region, he added.

According to Sisi, what African countries need most is development. The Beijing Summit of the FOCAC demonstrates China's high attention to the development of Africa.

Egypt positively values China's just position on the Middle East issue, and is willing to strengthen coordination with China in the multilateral field, he added.

The two heads of state witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents.

Prior to his meeting with Sisi, Xi held a ceremony to welcome the visiting president at the Great Hall of the People.