Egyptian media Saturday focused on the Beijing summit of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak has attended.
Egypt's top-selling newspaper Al-Ahram reported in the front
page Mubarak's China tour, including participation in the summit
and a scheduled follow-up state visit to China.
Mubarak arrived in Beijing on Friday after a stop in Russia. The
daily said Mubarak will deliver an important speech at the
summit.
The two-day summit opened in the Chinese capital Saturday
morning with leaders of 48 African countries gathering at the Great
Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.
After the Summit, Mubarak will make a state visit to China and
hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on bilateral ties and
other issues, the daily said.
Mubarak's visit was bound to improve Egypt-China relationship,
which began in 1956, in various fields, the daily quoted
Presidential Spokesman Soliman Awwad as saying.
Egypt was the first African nation to forge diplomatic ties with
the People's Republic of China and bilateral relations were
distinguished, Awwad said.
Meanwhile, Akhbar al Yom, a popular national daily, published an
editorial by Egypt's MENA news agency Editor-in-Chief Abdallah
Hassan.
Hassan said in the editorial that Mubarak's current visit is the
ninth to China -- a country that maintained substantially
significant relations with Egypt in economic, political, cultural
and military areas.
A visitor to China would instantly realize how active and
hardworking the Chinese people are, he said, adding that
"everything is running perfectly and smoothly according to tightly
knotted plans and discipline seems to leave no room for
chances."
"When I first visited China in 1976, the country's resources
seemed to be limited and the population was rapidly growing, while
poverty and social problems were widely spreading," the chief
editor said.
A country with a population of some 1.3 billion people couldn't
have attained such economic strides over the past two decades
unless they applied well-defined plans and thoroughly studied
mechanisms to implement them, he said.
Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong has managed to uproot those
social ailments as well as to have the Chinese overcome all the
obstacles they used to face, he wrote.
Mao laid the foundation for national action that contributed to
the transformation of China in just half a century from a country
struggling with enormous social and economic problems into one that
is confidently and firmly moving towards the biggest world economic
power, said Hassan.
MENA also broadcast several news stories about the FOCAC, which
is also attended by other senior Egyptian officials, including
Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, Minister of Trade and Industry
Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Minister of Investment Mahmoud
Mohieddin.
MENA reported that Abul Gheit hailed a proposal by Hu Jintao to
offer financial support to Africa over the coming three years. He
said Egypt will boost cooperation with China as well as with other
African countries.
In a keynote speech at the summit, Hu said China will provide 3
billion U.S. dollars in preferential loans and 2 billion dollars of
preferential buyer's credits to Africa over the next three
years.
He also vowed to set up a special fund, which will reach 5
billion dollars, to encourage Chinese investment in Africa.
Gheit's remarks were echoed by Rachid, who voiced his
appreciation for Hu's proposal to support Africa and reduce the
debts of the heavily indebted poor countries and the least
developed nations in Africa.
The implementation of those proposals would immensely enhance
Sino-African trade cooperation, MENA quoted Rachid as saying.
In a separate story, MENA quoted Mohieddin as saying that
cooperation between China and Africa is important, especially in
the fields of investment and infrastructure.
Mohieddin said the parameters of Chinese-Egyptian cooperation
were set to enhance trade cooperation between Cairo and
Beijing.
Several Chinese provinces have actually contributed money to
help promote national industries in African countries, including
Egypt, Mohieddin said.
Commenting on President Hu's suggestion to write off debts of
some African countries, Mohieddin said it was a practical way of
reducing debts.
(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2006)