President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi received on Monday Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Wang Yang, in the presence of House of Representatives Speaker Ali Abdel-Aal and the Chinese ambassador to Egypt. After welcoming the Chinese official, El-Sisi pointed to the time-honoured and historical relations binding the two countries, according to Egyptian Presidential Spokesman Bassam Rady. The president asserted Egypt's keenness to develop cooperation with China at various levels within the framework of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries. President El-Sisi conveyed his greetings to Chinese President Xi Jinping and extended him an official invitation to visit Egypt shortly. Meanwhile, Wang praised the development in the historical relations between Egypt and China, affirming that his country had always sought to promote partnership with Egypt in all fields and diversify aspects of cooperation. The meeting observed an exchange of views regarding developments in the situation in the Middle East, in light of challenges facing the region, the spokesman said, noting that Wang hailed Egypt's pioneering role in maintaining regional peace, security and stability through fighting terrorism, extremist thoughts and finding political settlement to crises besetting the region. President El-Sisi reviewed Egypt's efforts to combat terrorism and extremist thoughts through rallying international endeavours in this respect. The president stressed that development and changing the reality to the better were the best means to combat terrorism and extremism. The meeting took up prospects of trilateral cooperation with African countries, given Egypt's current chairmanship of the African Union, with a view to exchanging the know-how, Rady noted. It also witnessed a consensus on the significance of upgrading parliamentary relations between the two countries in order to foster fraternity ties at the political, economic, social and cultural levels, the spokesman added. The Chinese official, meanwhile, stressed that improvements in Egypt's business atmosphere had made it a promising market for Chinese investments and firms, Rady said.
