Xi greets Sisi over re-election

Xi greets Sisi over re-election

President Xi Jinping has sent a message to Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Monday congratulating him on his re-election.

In the message, Xi said that he has kept close contact with Sisi in recent years, and that he is pleased to see that mutual political trust between the two countries has continued to deepen, bilateral pragmatic cooperation has kept advancing, and people-to-people and cultural exchanges have become more active.

Xi said that China and Egypt enjoy a long-running friendship and he hoped that the Egyptian people, under Sisi's leadership, would score more important achievements in exploring the country's development path.

Xi said that he highly values the development of China-Egypt relations and is willing to work together with Sisi to further enhance the comprehensive strategic partnership and bring more benefits to the peoples of both countries.

On Monday, Sisi was officially announced as winner of the election with over 97 percent of the vote. Turnout was 41 percent from nearly 60 million eligible voters.

In a brief victory speech broadcast on Monday evening on state television, Sisi sent "greetings, appreciation, and respect" to Egyptians.

Hundreds of supporters took to the streets in Cairo and other cities, waving the Egyptian flag and singing patriotic songs to celebrate Sisi clinching another four years in power.

Sisi's re-election was expected to lead to further stable economic and security conditions in the most populous Arab state after years of economic slowdown and terrorist challenges, Egyptian experts said.

"Generally, Sisi's re-election equals more stability and makes investors confident in the Egyptian market," said Rashad Abdo, an economics professor at Cairo University and also head of the Egyptian Forum for Economic and Strategic Studies.

Abdo said Sisi's re-election will also bring better Egyptian foreign relations and reassure local and foreign investors.

"As you can see, the Egyptian Stock Exchange logically marked a rise after the president's re-election," he said.

Sisi came to office in mid-2014, a year after he, as the then-army chief, led the ouster of former Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in response to mass protests. Since then, he has been working on national mega projects to develop the country's infrastructure and pave the way for further foreign investment.

Abdo noted that before Sisi, the economic growth rate was 1.8 percent, while this year it stood at about 5 percent.

Since Morsi's ouster in July 2013 and the ban of his Muslim Brotherhood group as a terrorist organization, Egypt has been suffering a wave of extremist attacks that have killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers, as well as civilians.

On the other hand, Egyptian forces have killed hundreds of terrorists during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi.

"The re-election of Sisi represents the Egyptian people's belief in his keenness to fight terrorism and maintaining security and stability in the country to provide a suitable investment climate," said security expert Hamdy Bakhit, an Egyptian parliament member and a retired armed forces general.

Xinhua, AFP and Reuters contributed to this story.