By Manal Abdel Fattah
Ambassador Liao Liqiang, Chinese Ambassador to Cairo, said that the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation sent a clear message that China and Africa are pursuing joint development, and embodied the determination of the “Global South” for solidarity and cooperation.
He stressed that during this summit, the Chinese and African sides are moving forward together, which constitutes the “Southern Moment” in building a community with a shared future for mankind.
He added: Egypt was the first African country to establish diplomatic relations with the new China, and the two countries are friends with common visions and mutual trust, and partners in achieving common development and common prosperity.
He explained that in recent years, under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, China and Egypt have worked to implement the “Eight Joint Actions” and “Nine Projects” within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and achieved fruitful results in the fields of infrastructure, trade, investment, modern agriculture and talent development.
He continued: This year marks the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, as well as the “Year of the China-Egypt Partnership”. Dr. Mostafa Madbouly’s attendance at this summit on behalf of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi is another high-level visit between the two countries after the visit of President El-Sisi and Speaker of the House of Representatives Hanafi Gebali. It is a very important visit to implement the results of President El-Sisi’s visit to China last May and enhance the strategic alignment between the two countries.
He said that before the visit, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly received an interview with China’s largest news agency, Xinhua, and China’s largest newspaper, People’s Daily, in which he recorded a positive assessment of China and Egypt’s contribution to the development of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in recent years, and highly appreciated the tremendous achievements made by the two countries in the past decade.
He stressed that Egypt was one of the first countries to join the “Belt and Road” initiative, and actively responded to China’s proposals for the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative.
The two countries have formed multi-level cooperation mechanisms, from which Egypt truly benefits.
Chinese National People’s Congress Speaker Zhao Liji met with Dr. Mostafa Madbouly on the day of his arrival in Beijing, and stressed China’s keenness to make joint efforts to implement the important consensus between the two countries’ presidents, enhance traditional friendship, promote the alignment of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and “Egypt’s Vision 2030”, deepen cooperation in the fields of infrastructure, industry, culture and tourism, enhance communication between the two peoples, and work to establish a Chinese-Egyptian community of shared future towards the new era.
For his part, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly said that Egypt adheres to the one-China principle, and that Chinese-style modernization will bring more opportunities to Egypt and other developing countries, and Egypt is keen to deepen cooperation with China in all fields, cooperate in building the “Belt and Road” and achieve common development.
During the summit, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly attended a high-level session entitled “Industrialization and Modern Agriculture”, where he highly appreciated what President Xi Jinping put forward at the opening session of the ten partnership works to enhance China-Africa relations in all fields.
Dr. Mostafa Madbouly also attended the 8th China-Africa Businessmen’s Meeting, met with representatives of 9 Chinese companies, witnessed the signing of 11 cooperation documents in the fields of new energy, industry, investment and communications technology, and advanced a series of important cooperation projects.
The ambassador added: China and Egypt have always been comrades and partners on the path of modernization.
Today, China-Egypt relations are at their best in history, and are a model of China-Africa relations based on solidarity, cooperation and mutual benefit.
He continued: China is keen to make joint efforts with Egypt to seize the opportunity of the summit’s success, push forward China-Africa cooperation to achieve modernization and establish a high-level China-Africa community of shared future, and send a clear message that the “Global South” is determined to move forward together, advance the establishment of a community of shared future for mankind, and lead the world toward a bright future of peace, security, prosperity and progress.
