China and Egypt vow to further cooperate on BRI

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01:34

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi have agreed to deepen cooperation between the two countries, anchoring on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).

They reached the consensus during a meeting in Beijing on Thursday, when the Egyptian president is in China for the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) scheduled for April 25-27.

While calling on Egypt to strengthen political trust with China and support each other on issues of core interest and key concerns, the Chinese president also voiced China's support for Egypt to follow a path of development that suits its own situation.

President Xi expressed China's willingness to move forward cooperation with Egypt on the Suez Canal Corridor Area Project and the construction of the Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, as well as collaboration in capacity and infrastructure building.

He also mentioned the establishment of "Luban Workshop" in Egypt, which will be used to provide young Egyptians with vocational skill training.

Cooperation on anti-terrorism and security, as well as closer cultural and people-to-people exchanges were also emphasized by Xi.

Al-Sisi congratulated the People's Republic of China on its 70th birthday. He said Egypt is willing to learn from China's successful experience and closely facilitate the cooperation between its own development strategy and the BRI.

Egypt highly appreciates China's impartial stance on the Middle East issues and expects it to continue to play a constructive role, noted al-Sisi.