Visiting Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said on Thursday that China is willing to further the strategic cooperative ties with Egypt which was established in 1999.

During his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Li said the tenth anniversary of the establishment of the ties in next year should be an opportunity to further such a relationship.

"The two sides should take advantage of this opportunity to strengthen the strategic coordination and cooperation and enrich the contents of bilateral relations," he said.

Li suggested the two countries to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, transport, communications, tourism and human resources as well as explore new areas.

Meanwhile, Mubarak expressed beliefs that with the joint efforts of leaders of the two countries, Egypt-China strategic cooperative relations will make new progress.

Li arrived in Cairo on Wednesday afternoon for a four-day official visit to Egypt at the invitation of Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef.

He told Mubarak that the purpose of his visit is to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, deepen the relations with Egyptian and promote relations with Arab and African countries.

He hailed Egypt, which he believes plays an important role in international and regional affairs, as an important cooperative partner of China among developing countries.

"The Chinese side attaches great importance to developing Sino-Egyptian relations," Li noted, adding that the two countries have always respected each other, treated each other frankly and witnessed continuously deepened political trust and rapid development of pragmatic cooperation in various areas.

"The relationship between the two nations has become a model for cooperation among developing countries," he said.

Mubarak asked Li to convey his regards to Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese leaders. He said he has maintained close and friendly relations with several generations of Chinese leaders, and Egypt is pleased to see China's rapid development, and hopes it can be stronger.

He said he has been working to promote the development of bilateral ties, and attaches great importance to developing friendly cooperation in all fields with China.

Li also briefed Mubarak on China's measures in countering the global financial crisis, including adjusting macroeconomic policies in a timely manner, implementing proactive fiscal policy and moderate monetary policy and expanding domestic demand to promote economic growth.

He said China believes that these measures will be conducive to China's economy to maintain steady and rapid development.

After the meeting, Li briefed the Egyptian media on the meeting with the president.

Li also held talks with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef, and the two attended a signing ceremony on cooperative documents in fishery.

Besides meetings with Egyptian leaders, Li will also attend the opening ceremony of a China-Egyptian business forum in the afternoon.

Egypt is the second leg of Li's first overseas trip since he took office as vice premier in March. The trip has brought him to Indonesia and will bring him to Kuwait.

Among his entourages are senior foreign affairs, development, commercial and banking officials.

According to Chinese statistics, trade volume between China and Egypt has reached more than 5.3 billion U.S. dollars as of October this year, a 44-percent increase compared with the same period of last year.

By the end of July, about 570 Chinese companies have invested in the northeastern African country.

In addition, more and more Egyptian students begin to study Chinese language as the bilateral ties ushered into a new phase. Up to now, there are five Egyptian universities that have established Chinese language departments.

(Xinhua News Agency December 26, 2008)