Chinese VP meets Egyptian president

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping said here on Wednesday that the ongoing visit of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi "will increase mutual understanding and trust" between China and Egypt. Xi made the remarks when meeting with President Mohamed Morsi, who arrived in China on Tuesday for a three-day state visit as a guest of Chinese President Hu Jintao. Hu held talks with Morsi on Tuesday. Xi said the talks between Hu and Morsi bore "guidance for the future growth of Sino-Egyptian strategic and cooperative ties." Xi also said he believed Morsi's visit, his first China tour after he assumed the presidency, will "inject new impetus to the bilateral ties and open up a new chapter of Sino-Egyptian friendship." Xi said the growth of Sino-Egyptian relations can be attributed to the fact that the two are both developing countries, have the common goals of maintaining state sovereignty and social stability, and share the common interests of promoting peace and stability in the region and the world at large. He also spoke highly of the broad cooperative areas and rapid growth of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Egypt. The vice president stressed that China attaches high importance to Chinese-Egyptian ties and "will always regard Egypt as a key, trustworthy cooperative partner." "Our friendly policy toward Egypt will not change," said Xi. He expressed hope that the two will continue to render mutual understanding and support to each other on issues concerning each country's core interests or concerns. Xi also proposed China and Egypt strengthen coordination on major regional and global issues, and expand economic cooperation in such areas as culture, education, science and technology and agriculture. Morsi described Egypt-China ties as "strategic" in the meeting and commended the traditional friendship. He described his talks with Hu as being "of significance for consolidating Egyptian-Chinese strategic relations." Morsi said he hoped the two countries could further all-round cooperation, especially in the areas of economy and trade, investment, aviation and tourism.