Sisi to arrive in Beijing Tuesday

Egyptian Ambassador to China Magdi Amer said on Sunday that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi will arrive here on Tuesday to take part in massive celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of China's victory in the Second World War.

Amer told MENA that Sisi will take part in the celebrations and hold meetings with Chinese officials on Wednesday and Thursday and will leave the capital on Friday.

Sisi together with 29 leaders of world countries are to attend many activities marking the 70th anniversary, including the military parade to be held in the heart of the capital, a luncheon and a dinner banquet to be hosted by President Xi Jinping as well as the artistic show.

As for the meetings Sisi will hold, the diplomat said he will meet with the Chinese president, Prime Minister Li Keqiang and there are arrangements for other meetings with some of the world leaders to attend China celebrations.

What is confirmed till now is Sisi's meeting with Sudanese President Omar Hassan Bashir, he said.

The Egyptian president will also meet presidents of 25 companies and banks working in Egypt.

Talks are to dwell on the projects to be held as part of Suez Canal Development Corridor that aims at increasing the role of the Suez Canal region in international trading and developing the three canal cities: Suez, Ismaïlia, and Port Said.

Sisi and the Chinese president will sign a number of agreements, including a framework agreement on the projects China will finance and carry out in Egypt.

Upon this agreement, the two sides will form a ministerial committee that will regulate the way these development projects will be financed.

A 100-million-dollar loan agreement will be also signed between the China Development Bank and the National Bank of Egypt.

The deal aims at financing small and medium-sized enterprises in Egypt, the diplomat added.

This is the second kind of loan to be offered by the Chinese side to Egypt in less than two years, he said.

In addition to this, there will be two or three other cooperation agreements but negotiations over them have not yet been completed, he said.

The agreements will cover the 1.5-million-dollar electric train project to be set up in eastern Cairo, upgrading part of Egypt power grid and setting up a center to assemble and test satellites in Egypt, the Egyptian ambassador said.

He added that Egyptian Trade and Industry Minister Monier Fakhri Abdel Nour and Electricity Minister Mohamed Shaker will arrive later in the day to put the final touches on the agreements to be signed by the two sides.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Investment Minister Ashraf Salman will also accompany the Egyptian president.

He did not dismiss the possibility that Shoukry will also bilateral talks with his counterparts who will arrive for the China celebrations.

The number of agreements that will be signed are not as many and the meetings to be held are not expanded as this is the second visit of Sisi to China in nine months, the diplomat noted.

The visit is of importance as it reflects Egypt's keenness on taking part in China celebrations and it also mirrors development in the two countries' relations and the change in Egypt's foreign policy that now aims at diversifying strategic options.

As part of his Asian tour, Sisi arrived in Singapore on a visit, the first by an Egyptian president to this Asian country and will also visit Indonesia at the end of the tour.

Since 1983, no Egyptian president has ever visited Indonesia.

Sisi's visit to Beijing comes ahead of the visit of the Chinese president to Egypt, to take place in the second half of December during which a number of agreements will be signed, he added.

Source: MENA