Egypt's Postal Authority has signed Tuesday a memorandum of understanding with China Post as part of Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yasser El-Kady's ongoing visit to China. The terms of the agreement entail facilitating the exchange of experiences and cooperating in the postal sector areas to promote joint development of post industry and improve the quality of postal services to meet users' needs in the two countries. El-Kady witnessed the signing of a MoU between MCIT and China Post. The agreement was signed by Ahmed Salah - Egypt Post Vice-Chairman for Investment Affairs and Financial Services; and Ma Jonching - China Post's General Manger. The Egyptian minister is heading a high-level delegation that represents the ICT sector. Minister El-Kady has met with Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology Miao Wei, to discuss means of boosting cooperation and exchanging expertise in the ICT field. During the meeting, the two parties discussed the cooperation agreement signed between Egypt and China in 2012, where signing a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) had been agreed upon to reflect the development of relations between the two sides in the ICT fields. Egyptian MCIT Undersecretary for the International Relations Division Nermine El-Saadany and the Egyptian Ambassador to China Magdy Amer will assume responsibility of coordination in this regard to formulate a MoU with the Chinese side and finalize it before the President's visit to China in September. The two sides also agreed to open markets between the two countries, allowing the flow of investments and consolidating relations between the Chinese companies and counterparts in Egypt. This will also result in increasing investment and promoting cooperation among private sector companies in both countries, giving due consideration to local manufacturing that could achieve benefits for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the IT field. The Egyptian minister reviewed a number of different activities and initiatives implemented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in the areas of designing and manufacturing electronics and replacing copper cables with fiber. In this regard, the Chinese minister said that China Telecom, in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), has a project aimimg to connect the African continent via fiber cables, a matter which was hailed by El-Kady who promised to study this project and participate in it. China Telecom representatives, who attended the meeting, also expressed their company's interest in investing in Egypt, underlining that China Telecom has plans to invest in fiber cables and infrastructure projects, as well as the areas of the Fourth Generation (4G) manufacturing and services. The ICT Minister has also met with China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) Head Zhao Raidyan and a number of CITCC executive officials, where they signed a MoU for cooperation in the fields of 4G, capacity building, technology parks and LTE techniques. The two sides agreed to hold a high-level meeting to follow up the latest developments and mutual experiences of postal services in the two countries, organize joint training activities related to the post regulatory laws and protect and secure the postal network and e-commerce, in addition to other specialized fields. Wei hailed the Egyptian-Chinese relations and the two country presidents' mutual visits, highlighting the need to reflect that on achieving the objectives that embody and keep pace with the level of the distinguished relations between Egypt and China. El-Kady stated that 2016 witnessed the 60th anniversary of Egyptian-Chinese relations, noting that this meeting reflects the shape of the model relations between both countries, which should bring about real projects. He also underlined the significant IT role in growing national economies and achieving benefit for peoples.
