Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (R) meets with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Cairo, Egypt, June 18, 2006. (Xinhua photo)

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met on June 18 (Sunday) with visiting Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on means to enhance Sino-Egyptian relations and the latest developments in the Middle East.

During the talks, Wen highly praised Sino-Egyptian ties and said that he chose Egypt as the first leg of his African tour as Egypt was the first Arab and African nation to establish diplomatic ties with China 50 years ago and thus played a unique role in promoting Sino-Arab and Sino-African friendship and cooperation."

Wen said that Sino-Egyptian traditional friendship has been deeply rooted in the people of the two countries and bilateral cooperation has shown a strong momentum and bilateral strategic relations have been deepened.

He said that thanks to mutual respect and mutual trust, China-Egypt ties have developed further, expressing hope that with support of President Mubarak, bilateral ties will grow stronger and stronger.

Wen said that China and Egypt, both ancient civilizations, have had identical or similar views on many major international issues and common targets and ideas in terms of safeguarding sovereignty, developing economy and pushing forward democratization of international relations.

It is imperative for the two countries to deepen bilateral cooperation, with a view to development of the two countries and safeguarding world peace, Wen said.

He said that under current international circumstance, China and Egypt should work together to deal with challenges in order to promote ties among developing countries and dialogue among civilizations and establish a harmonious world.

Wen said that deepening Sino-Egyptian strategic and cooperative relations is the goal of China's policy toward Egypt, adding that he discussed with Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazef ways to enhance bilateral ties and reached wide-ranging consensus on Saturday.

Wen said that an implementation outline for deepening strategic and cooperative relations between China and Egypt, signed by the two prime ministers, is another landmark document in the history of bilateral ties and will certainly promote bilateral cooperation in all areas.

For his part, Mubarak said that he had enjoyed close ties with the Chinese leadership over the past decades and witnessed the growth of bilateral ties, adding that he is delighted to see that areas of bilateral cooperation have been expanded.

Terming the two countries as "good brothers," Mubarak said that the Egyptian people are grateful for China's long-standing support and assistance.

He said that Wen's visit to Egypt was fruitful and the document signed by the two prime ministers is of significance to the further growth of bilateral ties.

He said that he was looking forward to visiting China later this year and attending a Sino-African summit in Beijing. The two leaders also exchanged views on major regional and international issues.

Wen said that China, as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is ready to strengthen consultation and coordination with Egypt to maintain peace, security and stability in the Middle East.

He said that China, which does not have self-interest in the Palestinian-Israeli issue, supports the Mideast peace process and the roadmap peace plan and stands for solving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict based on relevant UN resolutions and the land-for-peace principle and through dialogue and political negotiations to seek a two-state solution and enable the Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace.

"We sincerely hope that a new Palestinian government and a new Israeli government could proceed from the aspiration and basic interests of the people to resume peace talks as soon as possible," he said.

On the Iranian nuclear issue, he said that China supports an international nuclear non-proliferation system and opposes proliferation of nuclear weapons and stands for peacefully solving the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy and negotiations.

China hopes that parties concerned could be able to adopt a constructive attitude and take an even more flexible stance in order to resume talks at an early date, he said.

For his part, Mubarak said that Egypt does not want to see that the Iranian nuclear issue would complicate regional situation, and Egypt does hope to see that such an issue would be settled through negotiations.

On Sudan's Darfur issue, the Chinese premier said that China pays close attention to the situation there and supports Sudan's peace process and a peace accord recently signed by parties concerned.

He said that China is willing to work with other countries to seek a comprehensive peace and stability in Sudan and achieve prosperity for the Sudanese people.

Mubarak said that there is a long way to go in terms of pushing forward the Mideast peace process and achieving regional peace and stability, adding that Egypt is ready to work with China to achieve such goals.

He said that Egypt does not want to see that new turbulence could occur in the region and hopes that relevant parties could be able to properly solve the Iranian nuclear issue through negotiations.

Mubarak also expressed appreciation for China's stance on the Darfur issue.

Egypt is the first stop of Wen's seven-nation visit to Africa, which will also take him to Ghana, the Republic of Congo, Angola, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda.