By the Gazette Editorial Board President Sisi's participation in the China-Africa summit that convenes in Beijing today reflects Egypt's international stature and consistently growing relations with and openness to countries the world over. Underlying the profound significance of Egypt's keenness to actively take part in such gatherings are the country's remarkably developing relations with the summit's host country and its far-reaching and multi-faceted ties with African countries at all regional, sub-regional and continental levels. Quite noticeably, Egypt's relations with China have evolved into comprehensive strategic partnership over the past four years. These close ties witnessed an-additional push yesterday with the co-signing of five new co-operation agreements during the Egyptian leader's visit to the Great Hall of the People for summit talks with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Paralleling the constant promotion of relations with China over the past four years, Egypt's ties with Africa have, during the same period, witnessed formidable progress on the basis of partnering for development especially through joint enterprises and collective action in addressing the continent's common challenges including in the foremost the optimisation of economic development potentials, improving the prospects of youth and woman participation in public life, combatting terrorism and forestalling the undesirable impact of climate change. Egypt has also been a key promoter of African economic integration as so is clearly manifested in its efforts to support the growth of inter-African trade and the expansion of African free trade arrangements. As President Sisi is taking part in the China-Africa summit, Cairo is readying to host the first ever Inter-African Trade Fair (IATF) in pursuance of an agreement between the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the African Union and the Egyptian government. And it was in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh three years ago that Egypt invited the heads of state and government of African countries that are members of the COMESA, SADC and EAC to endorse the merger of the three economic blocs into a larger free trade zone. These are just two examples of the consistent efforts Egypt has exerted over the past few years to actively contribute to the promotion of common African interests. The convening of the 2018 Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC) under the theme of "Towards an Even Stronger Community with a Shared Future through Win-win Cooperation," is therefore an auspicious occasion for China and African countries as a group to look to the future given that the present scene of relations between the two parties is obviously one of mutually-beneficial and rewarding activities. Credible and sufficient evidence to this observation can be found in the facts and figures of trade exchanges between the two parties. According to the Chinese Trade Ministry's Customs website, the value of China-Africa imports and exports amounted to some US$170 billion in the period January-December 2017. In addition to being demonstrably high, this figure indicates an increase by 14.1 per cent year on year. Both the high figure and the rate of increase provide enough grounds for the two sides to look forward to the promotion of their relations which in reality reflect the overall relations of co-operation, mutual respect and understanding between African countries and China. It was apparently in this spirit that China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi expected, in a briefing to foreign media representatives in Beijing on August 22, the FOCAC to achieve important outcomes especially including a call to build an even stronger community with a shared future between China and Africa as well as for the entire world community and approaching the complementation of the Belt and Road Initiative with the implementation of the Agenda 2063 of the AU, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the development strategies of various African countries. It is therefore evident that the two sides stand to benefit from the FOCAC track and that international co-operation for development is increasingly establishing its worthiness and value.
