Egyptian media Saturday focused on the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has attended.

 

Egypt's top-selling newspaper Al-Ahram reported in the front page Mubarak's China tour, including participation in the summit and a scheduled follow-up state visit to China.

 

Mubarak arrived in Beijing on Friday after a stop in Russia. The daily said Mubarak will deliver an important speech at the summit.

 

The two-day summit opened in the Chinese capital Saturday morning with leaders of 48 African countries gathering at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing.

 

After the Summit, Mubarak will make a state visit to China and hold talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao on bilateral ties and other issues, the daily said.

 

Mubarak's visit was bound to improve Egypt-China relationship, which began in 1956, in various fields, the daily quoted Presidential Spokesman Soliman Awwad as saying.

 

Egypt was the first African nation to forge diplomatic ties with the People's Republic of China and bilateral relations were distinguished, Awwad said.

 

Meanwhile, Akhbar al Yom, a popular national daily, published an editorial by Egypt's MENA news agency Editor-in-Chief Abdallah Hassan.

 

Hassan said in the editorial that Mubarak's current visit is the ninth to China -- a country that maintained substantially significant relations with Egypt in economic, political, cultural and military areas.

 

A visitor to China would instantly realize how active and hardworking the Chinese people are, he said, adding that "everything is running perfectly and smoothly according to tightly knotted plans and discipline seems to leave no room for chances."

 

"When I first visited China in 1976, the country's resources seemed to be limited and the population was rapidly growing, while poverty and social problems were widely spreading," the chief editor said.

 

A country with a population of some 1.3 billion people couldn't have attained such economic strides over the past two decades unless they applied well-defined plans and thoroughly studied mechanisms to implement them, he said.

 

Late Chinese leader Mao Zedong has managed to uproot those social ailments as well as to have the Chinese overcome all the obstacles they used to face, he wrote.

 

Mao laid the foundation for national action that contributed to the transformation of China in just half a century from a country struggling with enormous social and economic problems into one that is confidently and firmly moving towards the biggest world economic power, said Hassan.

 

MENA also broadcast several news stories about the FOCAC, which is also attended by other senior Egyptian officials, including Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit, Minister of Trade and Industry Rachid Mohamed Rachid and Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin.

 

MENA reported that Abul Gheit hailed a proposal by Hu Jintao to offer financial support to Africa over the coming three years. He said Egypt will boost cooperation with China as well as with other African countries.

 

In a keynote speech at the summit, Hu said China will provide 3 billion U.S. dollars in preferential loans and 2 billion dollars of preferential buyer's credits to Africa over the next three years.

 

He also vowed to set up a special fund, which will reach 5 billion dollars, to encourage Chinese investment in Africa.

 

Gheit's remarks were echoed by Rachid, who voiced his appreciation for Hu's proposal to support Africa and reduce the debts of the heavily indebted poor countries and the least developed nations in Africa.

 

The implementation of those proposals would immensely enhance Sino-African trade cooperation, MENA quoted Rachid as saying.

 

In a separate story, MENA quoted Mohieddin as saying that cooperation between China and Africa is important, especially in the fields of investment and infrastructure.

 

Mohieddin said the parameters of Chinese-Egyptian cooperation were set to enhance trade cooperation between Cairo and Beijing.

 

Several Chinese provinces have actually contributed money to help promote national industries in African countries, including Egypt, Mohieddin said.

 

Commenting on President Hu's suggestion to write off debts of some African countries, Mohieddin said it was a practical way of reducing debts.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2006)