Foreign minister describes China as strategic partner to Africa

CAIRO - 3 September 2018: Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry praised China as a strategic partner to Africa in his speech Sunday at the ministerial meeting preceding the Forum on China and Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit.

Shoukry said that China has been providing support for Africa in different sectors, describing its policy as “balanced” for it does not intervene in the internal affairs of other countries and refrains from practicing political conditionality, while bringing benefit for all partners.

The minister said that the world is going through a critical stage in history as the current world order is engulfed with ascending political polarization that exerts negative impact on the international cooperation system.

Shoukry named poverty and low development rates as the main challenges facing developing countries, especially African ones. He elaborated that those challenges are amplified and complicated by the spread of terrorism, extremism, and guerrilla warfare.

“In the face of the above mentioned challenges, international cooperation with strategic partners becomes a high priority,” Shoukry asserted, describing the meetings of ministers that took place Saturday as fruitful as they resulted in Beijing Declaration, and the Action Plan for 2018 - 2022.
The minister concluded by wishing success to the current and future joint FOCAC leaderships to serve the “highly appreciated” strategic partnership between China and Africa.

President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping witnessed Saturday five cooperation deals signed by the ministries of both countries in various sectors.

This comes on the sidelines of the Egyptian leader’s visit to Beijing, where he is scheduled to attend the FOCAC summit taking place on September 3 and 4.

The deals include enhancing industrial quality, a Chinese loan, and cooperation in projects such as the electric train linking the New Administrative Capital in Egypt and the 10th of Ramadan city, a grant for manufacturing an Egyptian satellite, and investments in Egypt’s SCzone.

Both leaders held official talks Saturday in Beijing, the second stop in Sisi’s Asia tour, which started in Bahrain and will end in Uzbekstan. Both leaders praised the bilateral cooperation between their countries, calling for furthering ties in different aspects.

The talks are taking up means of boosting joint cooperation along with regional and international issues of common concern.