Xi Jinping to Visit Egypt as China-Egypt Relations Mark 70 Years

By Al Mayadeen English

31 Aug 2026 20:54

Xi Jinping's first Egypt visit in a decade coincides with 70 years of China-Egypt diplomatic relations and expanding trade, industrial and defense ties.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is visiting Egypt this week, his first trip to the country in a decade, as the two countries mark 70 years of diplomatic relations.

The visit will follow Xi's attendance at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, which concludes on September 1, and comes at the invitation of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Xi is set to meet el-Sisi in Cairo for talks to build on past cooperation and set the direction for future ties. It will be Xi's first visit to Egypt since January 2016, when he addressed the Arab League in Cairo and witnessed the signing of agreements on infrastructure, energy, finance and industrial development.

Seven decades of diplomatic relations

Egypt was the first African and Arab country to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, on May 30, 1956. The relationship has since moved through several stages, from diplomatic ties to strategic cooperation, and in 2014, to a comprehensive strategic partnership, agreed during el-Sisi's first visit to Beijing.

El-Sisi has since traveled to China eight times, most recently for the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in May 2024, where the two sides adopted a three-year action plan for 2024 to 2026 covering trade, investment, technology, climate change and security.

In 2024, Xi and el-Sisi signed a joint statement on deepening their comprehensive strategic partnership, and Egypt joined BRICS the same year. China's foreign ministry has said relations with Egypt are at their "best" in history.

Trade, industrial investment

Bilateral trade between China and Egypt reached about 20.8 billion US dollars in 2025, up from 17.38 billion US dollars in 2024, according to figures from the Egyptian Commercial Service. Over 3,300 Chinese companies now operate in Egypt across textiles, solar panels, chemicals, automotive manufacturing and logistics, according to Egypt's General Authority for Investment and Free Zones.

Much of this investment is concentrated around the Suez Canal. The China-Egypt TEDA Suez Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone in Ain Sokhna, about 120 kilometers from Cairo, hosted close to 200 companies by the end of 2025, with reported investment exceeding 3.8 billion US dollars and around 10,000 jobs created. China Jushi, one of the zone's largest manufacturers, has built a major fiberglass production base there, serving markets in Europe, West Asia and beyond.

Egyptian officials have said the next phase of cooperation should move beyond bilateral trade toward deeper production and investment integration, using Egypt as a platform to export to other markets. Cairo has also positioned itself as China's entry point into Africa.

Deeper financial integration

Financial cooperation between the two countries has expanded alongside trade. In 2023, Egypt became Africa's first sovereign issuer of a panda bond, raising 3.5 billion yuan, around 520 million US dollars, on China's domestic debt market.

In June 2026, Beijing and Cairo renewed their bilateral currency swap agreement, expanding it from 18 billion yuan to 30 billion yuan for another three years.

Analysts expect the next phase of economic cooperation to extend into electric vehicles, solar power, energy storage, green hydrogen, desalination, artificial intelligence and port logistics, with financing relying increasingly on yuan settlement, panda bonds, equity investment and public-private partnerships rather than sovereign loans.

Expanding military cooperation

Egypt and China are also deepening defense ties. The two air forces began their second Eagles of Civilization joint exercise on August 22, days ahead of Xi's visit. China deployed J-16 fighter jets more than 6,000 kilometers to Egypt, supported by mid-air refueling from a YY-20A tanker, the second time the two countries have held the exercise since it began in May 2025.

Beyond the bilateral relationship, Xi and el-Sisi have increasingly framed China-Egypt cooperation as part of a wider effort to strengthen the voice of developing countries in the global economy.

China and Egypt coordinate on multilateral issues through the United Nations, the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum, the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and, since 2024, BRICS.

What comes next

Xi's visit is expected to touch on trade, investment, Belt and Road cooperation and expanded use of the yuan in bilateral transactions, building on the framework set out in the first China-Egypt Development Cooperation Strategy for 2025-2029, signed during Chinese Premier Li Qiang's visit to Egypt in July 2025. That strategy covers healthcare, connectivity, climate change, green development and the digital economy.

Shanghai International Studies University researcher Zhao Jun told SCMP that China views Egypt as a regional pivot connecting the Arab world, Africa, the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, while Egypt is looking to Chinese investment, technology and market access to advance its own industrialization.

He said the visit's success would ultimately be measured not by the number of agreements signed, but by whether political trust translates into industrial projects that are bankable, operational and export-ready.