Egyptian minister expresses sympathy over China's quake

SUEZ, Egypt, May 25 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian Minister of Investment Mahmoud Mohieddin on Sunday expressed his condolences and sympathy to the Chinese people over a recent devastating earthquake in China's southwestern Sichuan province.

Mohieddin delivered the condolences after an inauguration of a Chinese textile company under the China Textile Machinery (Group) Co. Ltd in Egypt's Suez Northwest Economic Zone.

He said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and other Egyptian officials have expressed their mourning to the Chinese people over the quake, adding the Egyptian people believe the Chinese government and people will tide over the disaster.

The 8.0-magnitude quake on May 12 has killed 62,664 people, injured 358,816 and left 23,775 missing up to Sunday noon.

At the ceremony, Mohieddin also hailed the rapid increase of the Chinese investment in the economic zone with several Chinese companies and projects expected to go into production soon.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Chunhua said bilateral economic and trade cooperation has developed rapidly in recent years with bilateral trade reaching 4.67 billion U.S. dollars in 2007, which experienced a 46.3-percent year-on-year increase.

Egypt now has attracted over 500 Chinese companies, which have invested more than 450 million dollars by the end of 2007, Wu added.

As many as 200 people including Chinese embassy officials, businessmen and Egyptian officials attended the ceremony.