Yearender: China-Egypt relations see strong push in 2018

The signings also included building a textile industrial project, a refinery and a petrochemicals complex in the Suez Canal corridor area.

In October, Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan visited Cairo at the invitation of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly.

During his two-day visit, Wang met with Sisi and Madbouly. The two sides agreed to further boost cooperation between the two countries.

Wang and Madbouly witnessed the signing of cooperation documents in fields such as agriculture, education and culture.

In November, Madbouly visited China to attend the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai.

Addressing the opening ceremony of the exhibition, Madbouly said that Egypt is enthusiastic about boosting cooperation between the two countries on bilateral and regional levels in various fields.

He added that Egypt's participation shows its appreciation of the Chinese efforts to enhance fair trade between the two countries.

Madbouly noted that about 1,080 Chinese companies are operating in Egypt in various sectors, notably industry, information technology and economic zones.

Egypt's pavilion in the exhibition included such sectors as agriculture, food industry, textile, handicrafts, engineering and finance.

Fruitful cooperation

Meanwhile, China-Egypt bilateral trade volume grew 26.7 percent year-on-year in January-August to reach 8.83 billion dollars, according to China's State Administration of Taxation.

Statistics from the administration show that China's exports to Egypt reached 7.61 billion dollars in the first eight months of 2018, while its imports from Egypt totalled 1.22 billion dollars.

In 2018, Chinese companies participated in an array of Egyptian exhibitions, such as the Cairo International Book Fair, the first international exhibition of military industries (EDEX 2018), the Cairo International Motor Show (AUTOMIC FORMULA) and the Egyptian-Chinese Trade and Investment Exhibition.