by Mahmoud Fouly, Emad al-Azrak
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Nov. 4 (Xinhua) -- Egypt seeks to learn from the Chinese expertise in various fields related to youth and sports, said Egyptian Youth and Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhy in a recent interview with Xinhua.
"As a minister of youth and sports, I would say that Egypt is very interested in the greatly advanced Chinese experience, particularly in the field of sports and sports economy," Sobhy told Xinhua on the sidelines of the ongoing World Youth Forum.
The forum was held in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh from Nov. 3-6 with the participation of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi.
The Egyptian minister said that he is working on cooperating with China to learn from the Chinese experience in organizing the Olympic Games that Egypt is preparing to apply to host.
China's capital Beijing hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics and is scheduled to host the Winter Olympics in 2022.
According to Egyptian local reports, Egypt studies to apply to host the 2032 Olympic Games and the country is working hard to complete the required infrastructure before applying.
"What distinguishes China is that the Chinese pay great attention to the same issues of concern with the Egyptian youth," said Sobhy.
He pointed out that China has several programs and visions that Egypt can learn from, including those related to poverty reduction, business development, business leadership and the development of youth life skills.
"We found that we have a lot in common with China and we have identical views on many things. So we're working on finding an institutional mechanism for cooperation between Egypt and China in the sports field," Sobhy told Xinhua.
On Saturday, Sobhy met with the delegation of Chinese youth led by Li Keyong, head of All-China Youth Federation, at the World Youth Forum.
"I discussed with the Chinese delegation participating in the forum how to establish Egyptian-Chinese relations related to youth activities," the Egyptian minister said.
Sobhy added that the two sides discussed the possibility of establishing a "youth friendship week" between Egypt and China.
The agenda of mutual visits during the friendship week should include various cultural, art and sportive activities for the purpose of exchanging culture and dialogue between the Egyptian and Chinese youths, according to Sobhy.
"A protocol of cooperation in the youth field will be signed between the two sides in early 2019 and an Egyptian delegation will pay a visit to China soon to complete the agreement and discuss the chances for cooperation in various relevant fields," Sobhy told Xinhua.
With regards to Egypt's ongoing World Youth Forum, Sobhy said that it gathers this year 5,000 young people from about 160 states.
He added that the forum highlights the importance of the role of youth in building the present and the future of their nations as well as Egypt's perception of youth as the makers of the present and the future.
"The forum is very important to achieve human, cultural and intellectual communication and interaction between youth of different nationalities and affiliations," Sobhy added.
