China, Egypt to mark Cultural Year 2016 with events

China and Egypt will hold cultural events in each other's country throughout this year to mark the China-Egypt Cultural Year, which is also the 60th anniversary of the two countries' establishing bilateral diplomatic relations.

China's Ministry of Culture and the Egyptian embassy to China announced the events on Monday.

To celebrate 2016 as the Cultural Year was among a series of agreements President Xi Jinping and visiting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi reached in 2014.

Artists from China and Egypt will perform in the upcoming opening ceremony of the Cultural Year in Luxor, Egypt, followed by more than 60 cultural events planned by China and more than 30 planned by Egypt. The events will cover music, dance, calligraphy, literature and food.

The Cultural Year 2016 is an important cultural effort the two countries’ presidents agreed on to lift the bilateral relationship into a comprehensive strategic partnership, said Magdy Mahmoud Amer, Egyptian ambassador to China.

Enhancing the two peoples’ mutual understandings through cultural exchanges will help improve the two countries’ cooperation in the Belt and Road Initiative, said Lu Yanfei, deputy head of the foreign relations department under the Ministry of Culture.

Egypt, the first Arab and African country to recognize the People’s Republic of China, plays a "pivotal" role in the initiative, as it connects east with the west, and links Asia with Africa, said Amer.