An Egypt-China forum aimed to help boost economic cooperation was held in Cairo Tuesday, marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Egyptian-Sino diplomatic ties.

Some 400 Egyptian and Chinese business representatives and diplomats attended the one-day forum, which was sponsored by the Cairo-based Egyptian Chinese Foundation (ECF).

Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike said at the forum that Egypt was the first Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, ushering in a new era in the Sino-Arabic relations.

Wu also said that the Sino-Egyptian ties had generated many significant achievements in all aspects during the last 50 years, including in the economic and trade field.

According to Wu, Chinese President Hu Jintao sent a message to his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak earlier in the day to celebrate the 50th anniversary, in which Hu said the two sides should continue deepening their friendship and cooperation to address problems faced by both countries.

In addition, Wu said that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao would visit Cairo on June 17 in a bid to further enhance bilateral ties and that the two countries were to sign a batch of cooperation agreements.

Trade volume between the two countries jumped by 36 percent in 2005 over the previous year to 2.1 billion U.S. dollars, with the balance in favor of China, Wu added.

On his part, Gamal el-Nazer, president of the Egyptian Businessmen's Association, voiced hope that both countries should strengthen economic and trade cooperation and that Egypt was eager to attract more Chinese investment.

ECF chairman Yen Juihsiang said that his organization had spared no effort to promote cooperation between Egypt and China, especially in the economic and trade field.

He said that such a forum was significant since there was much room for the improvement of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

Several workshops on trade, investment, mining and tourism are to be held during the forum, he added.

Source: Xinhua