The first jet rolled off the production line in an aircraft factory in the southern suburb of Cairo and had a successful trial flight in late June last year.

Since the signing of the contract in July 2000 to jointly producing a total of 80 K-8E jet trainers within five years, more than 200 Chinese technicians and workers have been sent to Cairo, where they worked around the clock with their Egyptian counterparts.

The K-8E, a tandem-seated, all-metallic, low-wing and fuselage-side air intake jet training aircraft, is a new generation of the K-8 jet trainer which was jointly developed by China and Pakistan in the 1990s and had won acclaim for its excellent demonstration flights in many overseas aircraft shows, including the 1999 Paris Air Show.

Over the past decade, the plane has been purchased by customers in many Asian and African countries, including Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Namibia.

The co-production of the K-8E in Egypt consists of three phases. In the first phase of the project China will supply all the main parts of the aircraft for the assembly of a complete aircraft.

By the end of the program Egypt may have the capability to manufacture the major parts and independently assemble the planes.

This, in the words of Egyptian Air Force officers, will help re-establish the nation's aviation industry, which was obstructed in the 1970s for a variety of reasons.

The K-8E co-production project will also help consolidate "the strategic co-operative relationship" set up by the two nations when President Jiang Zemin visited Egypt in 1999, according to a high-ranking official of the China National Aero-Technology Import and Export Corporation, which represents the Chinese side for the operation of the project.

In the aircraft factory, hundreds of Chinese and Egyptian technicians are working hard to manufacture the planes, completing two every month.

They work in a very co-operative atmosphere, and many have become devoted friends. The project is a fine example of Sino-Egyptian trade and economic cooperation based on friendship, equality, trust and mutual assistance, the Chinese official said.

(China Daily December 27, 2002)