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BEIJING, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- China's Belt and Road Initiative is a "great" proposal, "aiming to bring common prosperity and peace to the world," chairman of Egyptian State Information Services told Xinhua in an interview in Beijing.
Salah A. El-Sadek made the statement on Thursday after his delegation attended the Media Forum held on Monday in the northwestern city of Urumqi, capital of China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.
The forum, titled "Connectivity: New Opportunities for Media Cooperation," was attended by some 40 representatives, including media ministers, and governmental delegates, from countries like Egypt, Austria, Belarus, New Zealand, Switzerland, Mongolia and others.
The Egyptian official urged all countries that seek development to join China's efforts under the framework of the initiative to revive the ancient Silk Road, saying that the prospect is broad and "we have to contribute all ideas to realize what we hope and what is good to two peoples."
On bilateral relations, he said that Egypt-China relationship has entered into a fresh phase featuring strong political will and intensive high-level exchanges, which "is unprecedented."
Over the past two years, two heads of state met several times on different occasions. Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a visit to Egypt in January, and proposed the two countries work together to build the Arab nation into a pivot of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, at the invitation of the Chinese president, attended the just concluded G20 Summit held in China's eastern city of Hangzhou in September. He was also invited to attend China's V-Day celebrations last September.
On media cooperation, Salah A. El-Sadek said "it is time for us in the Middle East region and China to see each other directly through media exchanges, rather than the third party's eyes."
"Both Egypt and China are faced with serious challenges in media. It is difficult for us to transfer truth to the peoples and to the outsiders," the Egyptian official said, adding the two sides could further cooperate under the Belt and Road Initiative.
In his opinion, media cooperation should reflect positive political momentum, therefore, there is great potential for broader media cooperation and exchanges in the future.
China's official Xinhua News Agency and Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) signed a memorandum of understanding in January to step up cooperation. In May, China's Xinhua.net and the SIS website officially added each other's Internet links on their respective front-page.
Egypt has been turning east towards Asia over the past few years to build further ties, something seen by experts as a means to create economic, political and strategic balance so as not to be restricted to the United States and the West in general.
(Xinhua journalist Li Teng in Beijing contributed to the Story)
