Prime Highlights-

• Egypt hosts second annual joint military exercises, marking first deployment of China’s J-16 jets to Africa.
• Egypt became first Arab and African nation to establish diplomatic ties with China, seven decades ago.

Key Facts-

• Xi Jinping visits Egypt for first time in a decade to strengthen bilateral ties.
• Visit forms second leg of Xi’s second overseas trip this year, following summit in Kyrgyzstan.

Background-

Chinese President Xi Jinping has arrived in Egypt, marking his first visit to the Arab world’s most populous nation in a decade.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi welcomed Xi at Cairo International Airport, where uniformed soldiers, folk dancers and young Egyptians holding Chinese flags lined a red carpet to greet him, according to Egyptian state television footage.

Egyptian state media has highlighted Cairo’s expanding economic and military relationship with Beijing, noting that Egypt became the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic ties with China seven decades ago.

Sisi described Egypt and China as partners working together to strengthen the role of the Global South within the international system, in an op-ed published in state newspaper Al Ahram.

The visit forms the second leg of Xi’s second overseas trip this year, following his participation in a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kyrgyzstan, where he met with several world leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In commentary carried by Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi described the two nations as close partners and said he looks forward to building an even deeper relationship between them.

The two countries recently held their second annual joint military exercises, an initiative launched the previous year to expand cooperation between their armed forces. The exercises featured the first deployment of China’s J-16 fighter jets to Africa, alongside a joint air drill involving the Chinese-made aircraft and French-made Rafale jets.