Egypt's president to visit China: official

23 Aug, 2012

Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected civilian and Islamist head of state, took over on June 30 after popular revolts last year toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.

"This will be President Morsi's first visit to China since taking office, and China attaches great importance to it," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a statement late on Wednesday.

China and Egypt will sign cooperation agreements and discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest, he said, without giving details.

Trade between the two countries totaled $8.8 billion last year, up 40 percent from 2008, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

Morsi will attend the UN General Assembly session in New York on September 23, then visit senior US officials in Washington, Egyptian state media on Wednesday quoted his spokesperson as saying.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2012

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