Egyptian-Chinese talks .. the Renaissance Dam and Corona top the list

Egyptian and Chinese Foreign Minister

 

Egyptian-Chinese talks .. the Renaissance Dam and Corona top the list

The Renaissance Dam, strengthening economic relations between Cairo and Beijing, and confronting the Corona epidemic, occupied the top of the agenda during the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Egypt.

On Sunday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with the Chinese Foreign Minister, where he reiterated Egypt's historical rights to the Nile waters, by reaching a binding legal agreement to fill and operate the Renaissance Dam that reasonably achieves the interests of all.

The Chinese Foreign Minister expressed his country's complete understanding of the utmost importance of the Nile River to Egypt. Then, China continues its interest in finding a solution to this issue to meet the interests of all parties.

On Sunday, the foreign ministers of Egypt and China signed an agreement to establish a joint governmental cooperation committee.

China became Egypt's first trading partner for the eighth consecutive year since 2013, and the level of trade between the two countries exceeded $14.5 billion in 2020.

The volume of new investments last year amounted to $190 million, bringing the total to more than $1.2 billion, according to the Chinese ambassador to Cairo, Liao Liqiang.

Al-Nahda dam

The former Egyptian Deputy Foreign Minister explains that the visit allows discussing many issues of concern to the two countries, whether at the regional or international level, at the forefront of which is the issue of the Renaissance Dam and the blockage concerning the negotiation mechanism due to Ethiopia's intransigence and its failure to respond to the initiatives put forward by Cairo and Khartoum.

He added: "The crisis is still on the table in the Security Council, and it is expected to decide on the draft resolution submitted by Khartoum, and therefore we share with China our keenness to end the crisis diplomatically and try to attract investments to the Horn of Africa because the stability of that region is linked to regional security.

This is what Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry addressed during his talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, where he explained the position of Egypt and Sudan as two downstream countries, the need not harm the water security of the downstream countries, and the importance of engaging negotiations in African Union presidency—reaching a binding legal agreement to fill and operate the Renaissance Dam.

Shoukry stressed the importance of China's position on this issue, which significantly impacted Egypt's interests and national security.

But he believes that China will not venture to put forward an initiative or mediation to solve the Renaissance Dam crisis, especially since Chinese diplomacy is not active in regional conflicts and is far from geopolitical areas. It may seem that putting forward such initiatives may lose what it thinks it stands at the same distance from everyone.

Corona vaccine

Ambassador Ali Hefny returned to point out that Egypt and China's relations have significantly diversified in the recent period, especially in the field of health and medical care, after they agreed to produce the Chinese anti-Covid-19 vaccine "Sinovac" in Egypt to meet the needs of Egypt and the African continent for vaccines.

President Sisi praised the coordination that took place at the highest levels since the outbreak of the Corona epidemic crisis, leading to the signing of the joint manufacturing agreement for the "Sinovac" vaccine in Egypt, which supports the national strategy for the localization of the pharmaceutical and vaccine industry in Egypt, expressing aspiration to continue the fruitful cooperation between the two countries on All levels to strengthen international efforts to confront the repercussions of the epidemic.

Egypt is scheduled to start vaccinating its citizens with the locally produced "Sinovac" vaccine in early August.