BEIJING: China is hosting Egypt’s newly elected president despite its uneasiness with the Arab Spring revolution that helped bring him to power, while the new leader seeks to shore up his country’s flagging economy.
On the first day of President Muhammad Mursi’s trip, China on Tuesday pledged $200 million in credit for the National Bank of Egypt and leaders signed agreements on agriculture, telecommunications, the environment and other areas.
Mursi, who took office in June as Egypt’s first freely elected civilian president, was welcomed by President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People at the start of his two-day trip.
It is Mursi’s first state visit outside the Middle East and Africa since becoming president, underscoring China’s importance as one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council and as a vital source of trade and investment.
The visit is also seen as part of a reorientation of Egyptian foreign policy away from a heavy focus on Washington.
“Mr. President has chosen China as one of his first countries to visit and this fully shows that your country attaches great importance to the desire to develop relations with China,” Hu said after a welcoming ceremony.
Mursi was preceded to Beijing by a delegation of 80 Egyptian business leaders who planned to discuss investment projects with 200 Chinese counterparts yesterday.
The trip is also a chance for the countries to rebuild their relations in the wake of the popular uprising last year that drove longtime President Hosni Mubarak from power, paving the way for democracy and Mursi’s election.
Tuesday’s talks also touched on the Syrian crisis and both countries are opposed to a military intervention, said Egyptian presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.
Mursi is to leave Beijing on Thursday to attend the world gathering of self-described nonaligned nations in Iran, the first visit to that country by an Egyptian head of state since relations between them were severed in 1979.
Egypt’s president visits China
