Egypt, China issue commemorative stamps for golden jubilee of ties

Egypt and China on Thursday jointly issued a collection of commemorative stamps and envelopes to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Sino-Egyptian diplomatic ties.

Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Sike, Board Chairman of Egypt Post Alaa Fahmy and Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia Affairs Aly Houssam el-Hefny attended a ceremony held in the Egyptian capital Cairo to mark the issue of the stamps.

The Chinese and Egyptian officials exchanged their commemorative stamps and envelopes.

Ambassador Wu, on behalf of the Chinese government, presented Egyptian officials with 200 commemorative envelopes and 210,000 stamps, which were designed by Egypt and made in China, while Fahmy presented Wu with 1,000 commemorative envelopes and other souvenirs.

Wu said that issuing these stamps and envelopes was another evidence of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

"Since the two nations established the diplomatic ties 50 years ago, bilateral relations have developed smoothly and steadily and the Sino-Egyptian ties have become a model for relations among developing countries," said Wu.

He added that a successful visit to Egypt by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on June 17-18, during which the two sides signed 11 agreements and MOUs, was set to help deepen the two countries' strategic relations of cooperation.

For his part, Fahmy said that a joint issue of commemorative stamps and envelopes was of great significance, which would be conducive to the development of the Egyptian-Sino relations.

On May 30, 1956, China and Egypt officially declared the establishment of diplomatic relations, which made Egypt the first Arab and African country to have diplomatic ties with China.

Source: Xinhua