China signed investment and aid deals worth billions of dollars with Egypt during a visit by President Xi Jinping on Thursday and expressed support for Cairo's efforts to maintain stability, which have included a crackdown on dissent.
Xi arrived in Egypt on Wednesday on the second leg of a Middle East tour that signals China's push for greater influence in a region that provides vital oil supplies.
The visit, just before the Jan. 25 anniversary of the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak, is seen in Egypt as a vote of confidence in President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's administration, whose human rights record has attracted criticism elsewhere.
Xi praised Egypt's efforts to strengthen its economy during talks with Sisi, who has warned his critics not to hold protests on Monday.
"China supports Egypt's efforts to maintain stability, develop the economy and improve livelihoods, and ... play an even greater role in international and regional affairs," Xi said, according to China's foreign ministry.
Egypt has struggled to spur economic growth since the 2011 uprising ushered in political instability that scared off tourists and foreign investors, key sources of foreign currency.
Heralding a new era of closer political and economic ties, officials from the two countries signed 21 deals at a ceremony in Cairo that could ramp up Chinese investments in the most populous Arab country.
The deals span several development and infrastructure investments, including the first phase of a new Egyptian administrative capital announced last year, a $1 billion financing agreement for Egypt's central bank and a $700 million loan to state-owned National Bank of Egypt.
As military chief, Sisi ousted Egypt's first democratically elected president, Mohamed Mursi, in 2013 after mass protests and launched a campaign to crush Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood, the country's oldest Islamist movement. In doing this he won the backing of wealthy Gulf Arab countries who oppose the group.
REUTERS
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