Editor's Note:

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is visiting Beijing and will attend the military parade to commemorate the end of WWII. Since Sisi assumed office, China and Egypt have upgraded their bilateral relations. How will Sisi's China trip contribute to boosting bilateral ties? And what role will the "One Belt, One Road" initiative play in developing relations? Global Times (GT) reporter Yuen Yeuk-laam interviewed Magdy Amer (Amer), Egypt's ambassador to China, on these issues.

Magdy Amer Photo: Xinhua

GT: The West has speculated about China's military parade, such as saying it is targeted at Japan. Why does President Sisi decide to attend the parade?

Amer: Egypt took part in WWII and at that time Egypt was part of the allies with Britain, Russia, US and so on. The president was in Moscow in May for the Russian celebration of victory of WWII, so now it is also very normal for the president to come to Beijing and take part in the celebration.

This is not directed at any country, but it is just a commemoration of historical facts. And it's a reminder that those atrocities that took place in WWII should not be repeated.

China contributed greatly to WWII and sacrificed much. Egypt was in a position like China and was part of the war. And in fact, we have 81 soldiers taking part in the parade. This is the first time Egyptian soldiers have taken part in such a parade outside the Arab countries.

GT: What do the president and his ministers have planned for their visit to Beijing?

Amer: The Egyptian president will meet with the Chinese president, premier, ministers and chairmen of big Chinese companies, especially those operating in Egypt.

Some ministers are coming to deal with economic issues and Chinese projects in Egypt, including the minister for investment, the minister for trade and industry, and the foreign minister. The bilateral component concentrates on economic and investment between the two countries because we are about to start some projects with Chinese partners.

GT: China and Egypt announced they would establish bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership last year. Some have interpreted this as Egypt developing closer ties with China and moving away from its traditionally close relationship to the US. Is this accurate?

Amer: Egypt is opening up to all big powers such as the US, China and Russia. We have strategic relationship with the US, but we also have a strategic relationship with China.

Also, the leaders of China and Egypt have agreed that bilateral relations are based on mutual respect and win-win situation. China supported the choice of Egyptian people since the beginning of what we called the Arab Spring in the Middle East and said it would not interfere in Egyptian internal affairs, so Egypt is doing the same. Egypt supports the peaceful unification of China and Egypt is against any interference in Chinese internal affairs.

GT: In your opinion, how could China and Egypt work together to further boost their economic cooperation?

Amer: The Egyptian president visited China December, 2014, and we signed some 20 agreements in the preliminary phrase. Now we are going to the second and third phrase to implement that.

Just two weeks ago, we integrated the new Suez Canal project. The coming phrase is to announce the plan to develop the whole area of the Canal. And this will be an important part of the Maritime Silk Road initiative.

We always cooperate and support each other in international organizations, especially nowadays the coordination is much higher. China and Egypt are defending the cause of the developing world, vis a vis economic development, the environment and so on and this is extremely important because what is going on now shapes the future as regard trade, customs, the free trade area, environmental protection and so on.

Then we have regional cooperation. China and Egypt are big players in Africa. Both assist Africa's development. And this will be an area for cooperation, especially now that the two countries are concentrating on regional connectivity and Africa needs connectivity such as railway and roads.

GT: The Chinese government launched the "One Belt, One Road" initiative last year, and Egypt has been very supportive. How does Egypt view the opportunities bought by the initiative? And how will Egypt take advantage of these opportunities?

Amer: The initiative means more cooperation between the countries. More cooperation means more harmonization, better trade, investment and environment and it means more cultural exchanges between the countries. So it is not only about the economy, but also people-to-people connections.

A very good example is the development of the Suez Canal zone. It is a zone that benefits the whole world, not only Egypt.

GT: As the country becomes increasingly stable, what will the Egyptian government do to facilitate and attract more Chinese companies to invest in Egypt? What legal protections will they receive?

Amer: The government is trying to ameliorate the laws dealing with investments. We recently issued unified investment codes, to make it easier to those who are going to invest in Egypt and a unified loan for that for investment.

We are applying an idea that China tried years ago, in which investors can go and finish all their papers and document in one place in a short time.

After the eruption of the Arab Spring, there were some economic troubles in Egypt and we faced some financial problems, and the bank tried new regulations for financial transactions, but now the government is easing those regulations and it is almost back to normal.

Even if there are some terrorist attacks; it does not affect the country and the economy. Everything is stable even though there are security problems.

GT: The number of Chinese tourists to Egypt is likely to reach 100,000 this year. Are there any plans to make it easier for Chinese tourists to visit Egypt, such as e-visas or visas on arrival?

Amer: We hope we can introduce e-visas as soon as possible to make it even easier. We have direct flight from Beijing and Guangzhou to Cairo, and will start soon from Shanghai.

And in addition to that, there is a chartered flight from Shenzhen and Chengdu.

We hope that Chinese carriers can fly to Egypt soon because it will increase the movement of tourists and we hope to increase direct flights between the two countries.