POLITICAL ISSUES
EGYPT
1) Xi Jinping urges closer parliamentary exchanges between China, Egypt
Cairo, Thursday, 21 January 2016
Chinese President on his visit to Cairo met Ali Abdelaal, Speaker of Egypt’s newly-elected Parliament and expressed that both should conduct parliamentary exchanges to make positive contribution to the development of the bilateral relation.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

2) China Egypt urge for Peace talk between Syrian Government and the opposition
Cairo, Thursday, 21 January 2016
China and Egypt in a joint document suggested that Syrian Government and opposition should implement UNSC Resolution 2254 and participate in a dialogue under the supervision of the UN.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

3) China Egypt opposes the idea of linking terrorism to specific nations or religions
Cairo, Friday, 22 January 2016
Foreign Ministers of both countries have signed a joint document stating their opposition to double standards in the fight against terrorism and agreed upon a joint effort to combat any form of terrorism.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

IRAN
4) China-Iran to upgrade its ties and carry forward their friendship
Tehran, Saturday, 23 January 2016
During his visit to Iran, Chinese President Xi Jinping met the Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and agreed to enhance bilateral ties to comprehensive strategic partnership to boost co-operation.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

5) China supports Iran’s application for full membership of SCO
Tehran, Saturday, 23 January 2016
A joint statement signed during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran, expressed China’s support to Iran’s application for full membership of Shanghai Co-operation Organization.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

6) China and Iran have no fundamental conflicts
Tehran, Saturday, 23 January 2016
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and Iran do not have any fundamental conflicts and that there are only consistent mutual support and mutual benefit between them.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

SAUDI ARABIA
7) China, Saudi Arabia agrees to set up a high level committee to steer co-operation
Riyadh, Wednesday 20 January 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in his meeting with King Salman agreed to establish a high level committee that would help to guide the bilateral relation.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

8) Xi Jinping visits historic palace in Riyadh.
Riyadh, Wednesday, 20 January 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping visited historic Murabba Palace in Riyadh along with Saudi King Salman to understand the cultural heritage of Saudi Arabia.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

ECONOMIC ISSUES
EGYPT
9) Twelve Agreements signed between Chinese and Egyptian Companies.
Cairo, Wednesday, 20 January 2016.
A Chinese trade delegation led by the Ministry of Commerce signed 12 agreements with Egyptian Companies in Cairo with the total value at US$ 60.4 million. The trade items include items ranging from olive oil, fruits, medical equipments, metal products, chemical materials, to those of textile raw materials.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

10) Expansion of Sino- Egyptian economic zone to start soon
Tianjin, Wednesday, 20 January 2016.
The expansion project of China-Egypt Suez Economic and Trade Co-operation Zone is expected to start soon and would be completed in 10 years and has a total investment of US$ 230 million.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

11) China encourages Companies to participate in large- scale Egyptian projects.
Cairo, Wednesday, 20 January 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said that the Chinese Government encourages and supports qualified enterprises to participate in large scale projects in Egypt.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

12) China State Construction Engineering Corp to build Egypt’s new Parliament House
Beijing, Friday, 22 January 2016.
China State Construction Engineering Corp (CSCEC) signed a US$2.7 billion project for the construction of Egypt’s new administrative capital. The contract includes construction of a National Conference Centre, Parliament House, Exhibition Centre and office buildings for 12 Government Departments.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

IRAN
13) Chinese automakers expand its presence in the Middle East.
Hefei, Saturday, 23 January 2016.
A 25-day training course was organized at the headquarters of China’s leading car producer, Cherry automobiles, in Wuhu city, in Anhui Province. The training which included active participation of many Iranians is expected to give Cherry Automobile’s Iranian employees a better understanding of the company’s production flow.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

ISRAEL
14) China, Israel embraces golden age for innovation co operation
Beijing, Wednesday, 6 January 2016.
China hosted the first China-Israel Technology Innovation and Investment Summit on 5-6 January.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

JORDAN
15) Chinese banks finance major energy projects in Jordan.
Amman, Monday, 11 January 2016.
Bank of China, along with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) signed n agreement with a Jordanian electricity firm to provide US$1.6 billion as loan to finance an oil shale project in Jordan. The oil project has a total capacity of 540 megawatts.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

MULTILATERAL ISSUES
ARAB LEAGUE
16) China supports Arab World to solve their problem by themselves.
Cairo, Friday, 22 January 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping in his meeting with Nabil al Arabi, Secretary General of the Arab League expressed China’s support to the Arab world to solve its problem on its own.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

17) China’s political vision for stability in Middle East and other regions
Beijing, Saturday, 23 January 2016
Chinese President Xi Jinping, while addressing the Arab League in Cairo, put forward a comprehensive vision on restoring regional stability and suggested that respect for sovereignty and national realities, inclusive dialogue in settling differences, rejection of interventionism, and double standards way could help in solving regional disputes and economic development would help in fighting terrorism.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

GCC
18) China, GCC vows to reach comprehensive FTA within 2016
Riyadh, Wednesday, 20 January 2016.
Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the GCC Secretariat released a joint press statement assuring that both aim to work closely to conclude the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) within this year.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

19) China offers financial and humanitarian aids to help in the development of the Arab World.
Cairo, Thursday, 21 January 2016.
Chinese President expressed his willingness to offer humanitarian aid to the Arab world. The Chinese Government has decided to pledge RMB 50 million for Palestinians, RMB 230 million for Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya and Yemen. He also showed interest in promoting industrialization in the Middle East.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

UNITED NATIONS
20) Chinese envoy calls for reactivating peace process between Palestine and Israel
United Nations, Tuesday, 26 January 2016
The Chinese envoy to the United Nations called on the international community to take more robust measures and reactivate the peace process to bring Israel and Palestine to the negotiating table.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

MISCELLANEOUS ISSUES
EGYPT
21) Chinese language scholar in Egypt
Beijing, Saturday, 23 January 2016
Egyptian scholar Muhsin Farjani, a Chinese language professor with Ain Shams University in Cairo, has dedicated the last two decades in translating ancient Chinese Literature into Arabic. President Xi Jinping, during his visit to Egypt appreciated Farjani and nine others, who have been awarded for their outstanding contribution to the Sino-Arab friendship in Cairo.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

22) Celebrations marking sixty years of China Egypt relation
Luxor, Friday, 22 January 2016.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al Sisi attended the ceremony which marked the sixtieth year of establishment of Egypt-China diplomatic relation.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

IRAN
23) First Container Train that links China to Middle East.
Hangzhou, Thursday, 28 January 2016
The first container train in Iran has been introduced by China. It will exit China through Alataw pass in Xinjiang and pass through Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan before reaching its destination in Tehran.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing

PALESTINE
24) Chinese President backs Palestinian cause.
Ramallah, Sunday, 24 January 2016.
During a speech in Cairo, the Chinese President said that the Palestinian cause is a basic issue for peace in the Middle East.
Source: Xinhua, Beijing
 
COMPILED BY MINAKSHI SARDAR

Minakshi Sardar is pursuing M. Phil degree at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.  Email

As part of its editorial policy, the MEI@ND standardizes spelling and date formats, to make the text uniformly accessible and stylistically consistent. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/positions of the MEI@ND. Editor, MEI@ND: P R Kumaraswamy