On the afternoon of September 2 local time, President Xi Jinping and his wife Madame Peng Liyuan visited the Grand Egyptian Museum accompanied by President of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and First Lady Mrs. Entissar El-Sisi.
The magnificent museum stands a short distance away from the millennia-old pyramids on the Giza Plateau.
Upon arrival, President Xi Jinping and Madame Peng Liyuan were warmly greeted by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and his wife. Inside the museum, the two couples posed for a group photo in front of the statue of Ramesses II and listened to a briefing on the museum and the ancient Egyptian history. Taking the escalator up, they admired with keen interest the exquisite and monumental stone statues, inscribed stone columns, and pyramidion from a temple, before stopping at the viewing area to take in the distant view of the pyramids from the window. Then the two presidents entered the Tutankhamun Galleries where they appreciated prize collections such as the golden throne of the Pharaoh, the golden mask, and the royal chariot.
President Xi Jinping noted that China and Egypt each has a time-honored civilization and are both home to a great deal of world heritage. The two great civilizations have long engaged and connected with each other across time and space, and the friendship between the two peoples have continued from generation to generation. The two sides should carry forward the vision of equality, mutual learning, dialogue, and inclusiveness between civilizations, put to practice the Global Civilization Initiative, jointly promote inclusiveness, coexistence, exchanges and mutual learning between different civilizations, and pool greater strength of diverse civilizations for building a community with a shared future for humanity.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi thanked President Xi Jinping for his congratulatory letter on the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum last year. He noted that the characteristics of inclusiveness and harmony in diversity shared by the ancient Egyptian civilization and the Chinese civilization are highly aligned with the vision of the Global Civilization Initiative President Xi Jinping has proposed. Egypt stands ready to pursue closer people-to-people exchanges with China, and promote mutual learning between civilizations, to make the world a more harmonious and inclusive place.
Cai Qi and Wang Yi, among others, were present at the visit.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.
