Chinese president leaves Egypt for Iran after state visit

CAIRO - Chinese President Xi Jinping left Egypt for Iran on Friday afternoon, wrapping up his first state visit to the most populous Arab country in the Middle East.

Xi's Egypt trip is the first visit of a Chinese president in 12 years.

During his stay in Cairo, Xi held talks Thursday morning with his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, during which they agreed to expand cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.

After their talks at the Quba Palace, the two presidents witnessed the signing of a slew of cooperation agreements, including a five-year outline document to cement their comprehensive strategic partnership.

Xi arrived in Cairo Wednesday afternoon and was received by President al-Sisi himself at the airport.

Shortly after his arrival, Xi met with Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail and the two jointly visited a China science and technology exhibition on the same day.

Xi met on Thursday with Egyptian parliament speaker Ali Abdelaal and Arab League (AL) secretary general Nabil al-Arabi respectively. The Chinese president delivered a speech at the AL headquarters in Cairo.

After his stay in the capital, Xi visited the southern Egyptian city of Luxor, where he attended the opening ceremony of the Sino-Egyptian Culture Year in 2016 together with al-Sisi at the Luxor Temple on Thursday night.

Egypt was the second stop of Xi's three-nation Middle East trip, which has already taken him to Saudi Arabia.