Egyptian President Morsi to visit China

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi will start a three-day state visit to China on Tuesday.

This will be Morsi's first visit to China after he took office, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Wednesday night.

China attaches great importance to Morsi's trip, Hong said. Chinese leaders will meet and hold talks with the Egyptian president to exchange views on bilateral relations, and global and regional affairs of common concern.

During the visit, both sides are expected to sign a series of agreements on bilateral cooperation.

"I believe the visit will further promote the development of goodwill bilateral cooperative relations under the new situation", Hong said.

Egypt was the first country among Arab and African nations to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. The bilateral ties have seen long-term and stable development since then.

The two countries have achieved significant results in various fields, maintained close communication and coordination in global and regional affairs, and had good cooperation under the frameworks of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum and the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

China is willing to work with Egypt to promote bilateral strategic cooperation to a new level, Hong added.