On the morning of April 20, 2002, Premier Zhu Rongji met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the Presidential Palace in Cairo, Egypt.

Mubarak warmly welcomed Zhu to Egypt. Hailing good ties between Egypt and China, Mubarak said that Egypt attaches great importance to developing its ties with China, and views China as its sincerest friend. The Egyptian leader praised fruitful cooperation between the two countries in political, economic, cultural, educational and other areas, pointing to close relationships between leaders of the two countries and frequent exchanges of high-level visits, which have played an important role in promoting bilateral ties. Mubarak also spoke highly of China's economic achievements, saying that Egypt is willing to learn from China's experience in terms of economic development.

Zhu said that Egypt, under the leadership of President Mubarak, enjoys social stability, sustained economic growth, improvement of people's living standard and remarkable growth of comprehensive national strength. China admires that. Egypt, an influential country in the Arab world and Africa, has made a major contribution to maintaining peace and stability in the Middle East and the world at large and promoting Arab and African unity. China speaks highly of Egypt's independent foreign policy and voices support for an even greater role to be played by Egypt in the Mideast region and in the international arena.

Terming Sino-Egyptian friendship as unique, Zhu said that President Mubarak and Chinese President Jiang Zemin laid a solid foundation for developing friendship and cooperation between the two countries in the 21st century. Recalling his talks with Egyptian Prime Minister Atef Obeid earlier in the day, Zhu said that he and Obeid had an in-depth discussion on ways to implement agreements signed between the two countries and expand areas of bilateral cooperation. Both agreed that they will work unremittingly for the implementation of the strategic cooperative relationship set by the two heads of state.

On the Middle East issue, Mubarak expounded Egypt's views on the matter to Zhu, saying that the Israeli government's acts have aroused outrage from the international community, and under the current circumstances, the international community are required to take strong measures to compel Israel to withdraw its troops from the Palestinian territories and comply with relevant U.N. resolutions and resume political negotiations with the Palestinians.

Zhu said that China appreciates and supports efforts made by President Mubarak and the Egyptian government to ease regional tension. China believes that the root cause of the Middle East issue is that Israel has occupied the Arab lands for a long period of time, and that the Palestinians' legitimate rights have not been restored. Only through political negotiations based on relevant U.N. resolutions and the land-for-peace principle, can the Middle East issue be solved eventually. The Chinese government has made its own contribution to easing the current tension, and is willing to maintain and promote consultation and coordination with Egypt and other Arab countries in this respect, and continue to play a positive role in supporting the just demands of Arab countries and restoring the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people.

In the evening, Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, who is accompanying Zhu on the visit, met with his Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Maher on bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common concern.