How Egyptian-Chinese ties developed during Sisi’s presidency

CAIRO - 4 September 2017: Since President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi came to power, the relationship between Egypt and China has developed.

Five Egyptian-Chinese summits have been held in the last three years which means that about one-third of all summit meetings between the two countries in history were held by Sisi’s presidency in only three years.

Strategic partnership Summit

The first summit between President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping was held from December 22 - 25, 2014. Sisi’s visit was the first to China after he assumed his post as president.

Sisi welcomed the Chinese president's initiative to raise Egyptian-Chinese relations up to the level of comprehensive strategic partnership. The two sides also signed agreements on economic and technical cooperation.

The president asserted that Egypt backs the Chinese initiative for reviving the historical Silk Road which passes through 56 countries and plans to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, nuclear power, new energy and aerospace. Sisi also held a meeting with presidents of 28 Chinese universities and also met with representatives of major Chinese tourism companies.

During his visit to China, Sisi visited Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, to tour factories specializing in technology and manufacturing.

The Great Hall of the People Summit

The second summit between the Chinese and Egyptian presidents was held in September 2015 at the Great Hall of the People Summit in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II.
During the summit, Sisi welcomed China's investments in Egypt and reviewed a number of projects in which Chinese investors could contribute, especially in the Suez Canal Economic Zone.

The two presidents witnessed the signing of a framework agreement for cooperation in the field of production capacity. The Development Bank of China and the National Bank of Egypt signed an agreement under which a $1 billion loan will be provided to finance small and medium enterprises in Egypt.

Chinese president in Egypt

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in January 2016 to Egypt in a historical visit after 12 years. Jinping’s visit comes as China and Egypt mark the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.

The two presidents signed a slew of separate agreements for undertaking projects in sectors like electricity, transportation and infrastructure. They also signed a number of cooperation deals in the transportation, power generation and civil aviation sectors worth $15 billion. They announced 2016 to be the year of Chinese Culture in Egypt and the year of Egyptian Culture in China.

G20 Summit

Sisi participated as a guest at the 2016 G20 summit upon the invitation of the Chinese president and summit chairman Xi Jinping.

Jinping expressed China's support of Egypt's efforts to "maintain stability and explore its own development path” and praised Egypt's development over the past two years.

BRICS summit

Egypt took part in three high-profile bilateral meetings with China, Russia and India alongside the 9th annual BRICS summit which kicked off the first Sunday of September in the Chinese port city Xiamen.

Sisi will meet the Chinese president, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Egypt will also take part in the BRICS Business Forum, a major side event of the annual summit, which is scheduled to be held on Monday, where around 1,000 businessmen will attend, according to press statements by the Egyptian ambassador to China.

President Sisi will give a speech during the forum and will display Egypt’s economic vision to the attendees.