CAIRO, Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of the Egyptian-Chinese Friendship Association Youssuf Waly on Wednesday hailed the traditional friendship between the two countries.

    At an annual reception of journalists from China and Egypt hosted by the Chinese embassy in Cairo Wednesday evening, Waly said the two sides have a long history of friendship as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited China nine times on boosting bilateral ties.

    Waly expressed his hope that the Egyptian-Chinese friendly relations will further advance in various domains, especially in the field of economic cooperation.

    For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Chunhua said the Sino-Egyptian ties have witnessed fruitful developments in the past year of 2007.

    The volume of bilateral trade is expected to exceed 4.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, a 45-percent increase over the previous year, said Wu.

    The Chinese embassy will exert more efforts for the development of friendship between China and Egypt, the Arab world as well as Africa, added Wu.