Egypt and China on Wednesday agreed on the crucial importance of reaching an urgent and immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, and rejected any forced displacement of the Palestinians outside their land.
During talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi affirmed that the implementation of the two-state solution is the fundamental guarantor to restore stability and establish peace and security in the region.
China’s President received the Egyptian President at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, where an official reception ceremony was held, according to Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
The ceremony was followed by extensive talks focusing on ways to cultivate closer bilateral relations.
The two presidents exchanged views on regional and international developments. In this regard, the Chinese president lauded Cairo’s pivotal role and unyielding efforts to reach calm and ensure the delivery of desperately-needed humanitarian aid.
Sisi then emphasized the urgent and imperative need to end the war in Gaza, underscoring the gravity of the Israeli military operations in the Palestinian city of Rafah and their severe humanitarian, security and political consequences.
Egypt repeatedly expresses its concerns about the devastating humanitarian impact of the Israeli military operations in Rafah on over 1.4 million Palestinians and the broader implications for regional peace and stability.
Cairo has called on Israel to open all land crossings between Israel and Gaza.
The Sisi-Xi Jinping summit discussed the situation in the African continent and ways to forge closer cooperation between the two countries. Sisi was keen on affirming that the utmost priority is placed on safeguarding Egypt’s water security.
Since 2011, Ethiopia has been building the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on the Blue Nile tributary. Addis Ababa claims the dam's primary purpose is electricity production to relieve its acute energy shortage.
But Cairo and Khartoum fear that the GERD will impact their share of the Nile waters. They have been demanding that Ethiopia join them in signing a binding legal agreement that manages the filling and operation of the dam.
Egypt has lately called on Ethiopia to submit impact technical studies of the dam. It also accused Addis Ababa of taking unilateral measures that contribute to tension and instability in the region.
Last December, Egypt announced that four-month of revived negotiations over GERD had failed to yield any results.
In Beijing, Sisi and Xi Jinping witnessed the signing ceremony of a number of cooperation agreements, including the joint development plan of the “Belt and Road” Initiative and strengthening collaboration in technological innovation and IT as well as a multitude of other areas of cooperation.
The Egyptian president's visit to the Chinese capital is his eighth in the last ten years.
The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) has revealed that the trade exchange between Egypt and China amounted to $13.9 billion in 2023, compared to $16.6 billion in 2022.
In Beijing, Sisi also met on Wednesday the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, Zhao Leji.
The two officials underscored the remarkable momentum the Egyptian-Chinese relations have gained across all fronts, materializing in the form of key cooperation projects and programs between the two countries.
The two sides valued the distinguished relations between their parliaments and resulted in the formation of the Egyptian-Chinese Parliamentary Friendship Group.
The chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress affirmed that his country holds in high esteem its historical relations with Egypt, emphasizing China's keenness to consolidate cooperation.
Leji also valued Egypt's pivotal role both internationally and regionally, particularly its efforts to advance peace and stability in the Middle East, in addition to its steady progress in achieving national development.
Sisi then visited the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital, Beijing, where he laid a wreath on the memorial.
Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, praised the “historic ties between the Arab countries and China, based on mutual trust and respect.”
This came during his meeting, on Wednesday, with the Chinese Vice President, Han Zheng, on the sidelines of the visit of the AL Secretary-General to Beijing to attend the tenth session of the ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum which will be held on Thursday in the Chinese capital.
