Egypt is willing to strengthen bilateral cooperation with China in the field of energy to promote technology exchange and create more job opportunities in Egypt, a senior Egyptian energy official said on Wednesday night.

Abd El Aleem Taha, Chairman of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, made the remarks at a seminar on "the Prospects of Sino-Egyptian Cooperation on Oil" held at the headquarters of local daily Al Ahram.

"The cooperation between Egypt and China is very important and Egypt attached great importance to the bilateral cooperation in this respect," Taha said.

He said that China's expertise benefited Egypt in the domain, citing "Mubarak-1" oil rig, the first in Egypt and Africa, was manufactured by an Egyptian-Chinese factory more than two months ago.

The Egyptian official expected to boost cooperation with China in the fields of oil refinery project, oil exploring and oil rig manufacturing, looking forward to a brighter and more prosperous energy cooperation for both sides.

For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Egypt Wu Chunhua hailed Egypt's achievements in recent years in oil production, research, exploration and export as the oil industry is one of the main industries in Egypt.

The Chinese diplomat also lauded the active cooperation between China and Egypt in the field of oil in the past few years, including the projects of Sinotharwa Drilling Company and the Egyptian Petroleum HH Rig Manufacturing Shareholder Company.

The Chinese government pays great attention to the cooperation with Egypt in various fields, he said, expecting a flourishing prospect of Sino-Egyptian cooperation on oil.

Some 50 participants from the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum, oil experts and businessmen from both countries attended the seminar, which aimed to provide a chance for information exchange and mutual benefit for both sides.

(Xinhua News Agency March 20, 2008)