Chinese welcomes anticipated vicit by Mubarak to peijing

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Thursday received Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, currently visiting Egypt within the framework of a tour the region.

The Chinese Minister arrived in Cairo on Tuesday coming from Jordan as part of a tour that took him to Syria and Lebanon.

Chinese official conveyed to President Hosni Mubarak, at their meeting Thursday, China's welcome of the anticipated visit by President Mubarak to Beijing late next month.

The meeting between President Mubarak and the Chinese top diplomat took up the agenda of talks between President Mubarak and Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing, added Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher in press statements after the meeting.

Maher noted that the visit comes in light of China's firm support of the Palestinians and the solid Egyptian-Chinese relationship.

He noted that the visit is aimed at bolstering trade cooperation between both sides through increasing Egyptian exports to China.

Maher further noted that President Mubarak discussed with the visiting Chinese Minister the Middle East issue where Mubarak expounded the current dangerous situation.

"President Mubarak underlined the necessity of Israeli stopping of their aggressive practices against the Palestinians since these acts are neither in the interest of peace and security nor in the interest of both sides," Maher pointed out.

The Chinese Minister expressed his country agreement with the view of President Hosni Mubarak regarding Arab solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle for independence.

On the other hand, Chinese Foreign Minister will visit Alexandria Library on Friday, as part of his visit to Egypt.

Ambassador Taher Khalifa, an adviser at the library for international relations, said the Chinese Minister will tour the library's main reading hall, manuscript museum and rare photo exhibition as well as its architectural exhibition and planetarium.

He will discuss with the library's officials means to promote relations between China and the Library through a number of activities.

Moreover, China Thursday expressed support of the call by President Mubarak to hold an international conference on fighting terrorism.

The Foreign Ministry spokeswoman expressed appreciation for the role played by Egypt in fighting terrorism.

"China is sharing, with Egypt and other Arab countries, stances against terrorism and their anxiety about its dangers," she added out.

"China is ready to enhance cooperation with Egypt and the Arab and Islamic countries in fighting this epidemic," she pointed.