Egypt and China were urged yesterday to work harder on enhancing economic cooperation.

Mr. Wang Limin deputy governor of the Chinese province of Heilongjiang was addressing a symposium organised yesterday by the Egyptian-Chinese Business Council on economic and investment partnership when he said that bilateral cooperation between the two countries was based on mutual interest and integration. He added that the total volume of trade exchange between the two countries had hit about $953 million over past years.

Secretary general of the council, Abdul-Sattar Ashraf said that they viewed China as a model for economic development and that they were seeking more benefits from the Chinese experience.

"Chinese products have managed to be present in all world markets including the USA," he told the symposium.

Addressing the symposium, the Chinese Ambassador to Cairo, Liu Xiaoming said that the bilateral relations are flourishing, noting that Egyptian exports to China had risen by 17.6 per cent during the period of January -October 2002.(Full Text in Arabic)

He added that Chinese tourism was also on the increase and that the Chinese vessels using the Suez Canal have paid $130 million in transit fees in 2001.

Chinese investments in Egypt have also boomed with 67 Chinese companies, with capital of $257 million by the end of June 2002.

During the symposium, an Egyptian company signed an $8 million agreement with a Chinese meat and 960 tonnes of mutton.