Newsman: Chinese President Xi Jinping in a three days visit to Egypt seeking new opportunity accross Middlee East. President Xi want two countries to strengthen economic and diplomatic ties. Xi will be in Egypt for three days. It is his first visit there in a decade and his first trip to the region since visiting Saudi Arabia in 2022. Egypt president El-Sissi has visited China multiple times in recent years.
President Xi arrived Tuesday evening at the Cairo airport, which was adorned with Chinese and Egyptian flags. El-Sissi and military guards greeted him on the tarmac with a red-carpet ceremony. The leaders are scheduled to hold talks on Wednesday, and Xi plans to visit the Grand Egyptian Museum, near the pyramids of Giza.
In 2023, Egypt was invited to join the BRICS bloc of nations, a grouping of major emerging economies that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and is seen as a counterbalance to Western-led institutions such as the G7.
A year later, Egypt signed agreements with China to collaborate on its Belt and Road Initiative, a signature policy of President Xi’s that seeks to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world.
In 2023, Beijing brokered a deal to reestablish diplomatic ties between Iran — its most important regional ally and oil supplier — and Saudi Arabia, a longtime U.S. ally. The agreement showcased China’s aspirations to compete with the United States for influence in the Mideast.
China has invested more than $10 billion in Egypt, building a business hub east of the capital, Cairo, and an electric rail line for industry in the Nile Delta. Annual trade between the two countries is estimated at $20 billion, according to government figures.
Beijing says its trade with Iran has always abided by international law.
Trade between the U.S. and Egypt was $15.7 billion in 2025. Egypt is a crucial partner in U.S. national security priorities in the region, and the countries’ leaders enjoy close ties.
Xi is visiting Cairo after attending a two-day conference of the 10-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a political and security group billed as a counterweight to U.S. global influence. The leaders of Russia, India, Pakistan and Iran attended the conference in Kyrgyzstan’s capital, Bishkek.
