Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Ahmed Issa on Tuesday met with Chinese Minister of Culture and Tourism Hu Heping on the sidelines of the official visit of the Chinese minister and his accompanying delegation to Egypt, which lasts from 1 to April 4. It is the first visit he has made outside China since Covid crisis and after easing travel restrictions on China.
Issa highlighted the depth of historical relations between Egypt and China at the official and popular levels, which go back thousands of years.
He said that the two countries possess the oldest civilisations in history and are united by a bright present and future witnessed by a great diversity in aspects and joint strategies of cooperation in various fields, including tourism and antiquities.
He expressed Egypt’s keenness to continue this momentum and joint co-operation and its reflection in advancing comprehensive strategic partnership relations between the two sides at various levels.
Issa congratulated the Chinese minister on the re-election of President Xi Jinping for an historic third term, which reflects the people’s confidence in the Chinese leadership and China’s continued achievement at various levels.
During the meeting, ways to enhance joint co-operation between Egypt and China in the field of tourism and antiquities were discussed, as well as ways to promote more tourism between the two countries.
The two officials discussed a proposal to implement a set of joint promotional programmes between them, and to promote the Egyptian tourist destination more in China to increase the number of tourists.
Issa reviewed the importance of the Chinese market for tourism in Egypt. He pointed out that this market is given great attention by the ministry, as it is one of the important tourism markets that the ministry places among the main targeted tourist markets.
He voiced hope that the number of Chinese tourists coming to Egypt will increase during the coming period and with rising annual growth.
For his part, the Chinese Minister Hu Heping expressed his happiness on visiting Egypt and the warm welcome and visit programme that was organised for him and his delegation.
He visited a number of museums and archaeological and tourist places in Cairo and Luxor. On Monday night, he attended Giza Pyramids Sound and Light Show by the Egyptian General Authority for Tourism Promotion. He described it as the ideal activity for tourism promotion for both countries.
The Chinese minister expressed his country’s keenness to enhance means of cooperation between the two countries, especially in the field of tourism and antiquities, and that this visit be an opportunity to exchange views and proposals to enhance this cooperation.
He also talked about how the Chinese people are passionate for the ancient Egyptian civilisation.
The Chinese minister highlighted the importance of increasing the number of direct flights between Egypt and China. He also requested to increase the number of Chinese archaeological missions working in Egypt, which was welcomed by Issa.
The Egyptian and Chinese ministers were scheduled later in the day to participate in the opening session of the professional workshop organised by the ministry, between the Egyptian and Chinese sides, to discuss ways to enhance tourism exchange between the two countries with the participation of a number of tourism companies, Egyptian and Chinese hotel establishments.
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