Chinese Premier Li Qiang wrapped up a three-day visit to Cairo on 11 July, the first visit by a Chinese premier in several years and a prelude to next year’s 70th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The trip produced a memorandum of understanding between the People’s Bank of China and the Central Bank of Egypt on 10 July aimed at boosting bilateral financial cooperation. The deal promotes settlement in local currencies, joint work on central-bank digital-currency projects and broader collaboration in payment systems and financial-market infrastructure, measures that officials said would lower transaction costs and support trade and investment. During talks with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, Li pledged to ‘optimize’ bilateral trade and expand Belt and Road cooperation in new energy, electric vehicles, artificial intelligence and tourism. Cairo, which is grappling with heavy foreign-currency obligations, reiterated interest in Chinese investment and a debt-swap arrangement worth about US$8 billion. On the security front, retired General Samir Farag confirmed Egypt’s deployment of China’s HQ-9B long-range air-defence system, underscoring a gradual shift in Cairo’s procurement toward Chinese military technology. Li also voiced Beijing’s support for Arab countries’ strategic autonomy and for a ‘comprehensive, just and lasting’ settlement of the Palestinian issue, highlighting China’s wider push to expand its diplomatic and economic footprint in the Middle East and the broader Global South.