Egyptian-Chinese Friendly Relations Good Enough to Serve as ModelPresident Mubarak highly appraised Egypt-China relations He said that the Egyptian people cherish high respect for President Jiang Zemin, the Chinese government and people and they take pride in the long-standing friendly ties between the two countries. Mubarak said that after half-a-century efforts by the two sides, the Egyptian-Chinese relationship has steadily strengthened and become a model for developing countries' friendly relations and South-South cooperation. He remarked: "I and President Jiang Zemin and some other Chinese high-level leaders are old friends. I pay special attention to the consensus reached with President Jiang Zemin on the establishment of strategic partnership between Egypt and China, which has laid a foundation for the two countries to strengthen cooperation in the future. At present, Egypt and China are devoting their efforts to pushing forward bilateral cooperation on the basis of friendship and mutual benefit, so that it will develop in depth. Governments of the two countries support and encourage their respective departments concerned to engage in exploration, so as to strengthen the friendly ties between the two countries in the political, economic, social and cultural fields in the new century, and enhance mutual trust and understanding. The Egyptian government and people sincerely expect to strengthen cooperation in various spheres with the Chinese government and people." With regard to the Palestine-Israel situation, Mubarak was of the view that currently crossfire between the two sides of Israel and Palestine had stopped, therefore it is necessary to lose no time to urge both sides to re-open negotiations, only in this way is it possible to avoid the escalation of violent conflicts. Mubarak said Egypt hoped that the United States and Europe would make concerted efforts to help Palestine and Israel to resume peace talks. The President stressed that the Palestinian people absolutely would not give up their rights. If Israel suppress them, they would definitely resist, in that case, there would never be days of peace. in the Middle East region. Mubarak said that at present, European Union and Russia as well as the world's peace-loving forces are all working hard to bring about peace talks between Palestine and Israel. We naturally will not forget China's support to the Palestinian people. Mubarak indicated that Egypt is exerting its effort to help the parties concerned to resume negotiations. He expressed the view that the United States has an important role to play on the Middle-East issue, only the United States is able to persuade Israel to return to the negotiating table. When talking about the Egyptian-Chinese trading prospect, the President affirmed that in the past few years, Egyptian-Chinese economic and trade relations have undergone notable, substantive development. He said Egypt has a stable and attractive investment environment, while China has experiences and has scored lots of achievements in drawing foreign capital. "We welcome cooperation between governments and between enterprises of the two countries," he added. During the interview, Mubarak briefed on Egypt's plan for future economic reform and the achievements Egypt has gained in the construction of infrastructure facilities. Egyptian Information Minister and Board Chairman and Chief Editor of al-Ahram were present at the meeting. People's Daily Delegation visited Egypt on the invitation of al-Ahram and the Information General Administration under the Information Ministry on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Egypt. On June 3, Ibrahim Nafie, Chief Editor of al-Ahram had a cordial meeting with Editor-in-Chief Xu Zhongtian and his entourage, both sides had warm and friendly talks. |
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