¡¡¡¡CAIRO, Oct. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- China and Egypt on Thursday signed a memo of understanding on promoting cooperation in the area of communications and information technology (CIT).

¡¡¡¡According to the document, the two countries will promote trade and investment between enterprises in the construction and operation of telecommunications network infrastructure.

¡¡¡¡In addition, the two sides will strengthen exchanges in the establishment of strategies and policies, the formulation of regulations and regulation of the market in CIT.

¡¡¡¡Visiting Chinese Minister of Information Industry Wu Jichuan andhis Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Nazif signed the memo.

¡¡¡¡Wu said at the signing ceremony that China expects to cooperate with Egypt in the area of hardware and software research and development as well as information technology transfer, saying the signing of the memo marked the first step toward producing fruitfulresults in bilateral cooperation in CIT.

¡¡¡¡On his part, Nazif said Egypt is keen on seeking partnerships with Chinese state-owned and private CIT enterprises.

¡¡¡¡He added bilateral cooperation in CIT would benefit Egypt in terms of technology transfer and import of equipment, while China would benefit in terms of opening a new market in Egypt and the African Continent as a whole.

¡¡¡¡China and Egypt, which have witnessed rapid growth rates in CIT in recent years, are keen on bilateral cooperation in the lucrativeCIT market.

¡¡¡¡Huawei company of China, a noted private CIT company in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, has established a regional headquarters in Cairo.

¡¡¡¡Last year, the sale of equipment and technology transfer by Huawei to Egyptian telecommunications companies reached 15 million US dollars, a Huawei staffer in Cairo office told Xinhua.

¡¡¡¡China ranks the second in the world for its network capacity andnumber of telephone users, with 1.25 million km of optical fiber and 230 million users of fixed and mobiles phones. Enditem

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