Egypt: Minister reveals enhancement of archaeological cooperation with China

An Egyptian Minister said on March 2 that the country is eyeing to have archaeological cooperation with China after the work of the first Chinese mission in Egypt in 2018.

"The first Chinese archaeological mission in Egypt worked last year and I hope it is only the beginning for a big number of similar Chinese missions in Egypt," Khaled al-Anany, Egypt's Minister of antiquities, told Xinhua in an interview.

The minister referred to the Chinese mission from the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), which started working on Montu Temple north of the world-famous Karnak Temple Complex in Upper Egypt's province of Luxor last November.

"We have recently signed a memorandum of understanding with CASS and we are very optimistic for very fruitful cooperation between the two countries in archaeology," Anany said.

The Chinese mission has finished its first season of mission in Egypt, which is mainly a preparatory stage in the project, the minister noted. They are expected, along with Egyptian counterparts, to start the reassembly and restoration works of some of the scattered pieces and ruins of Montu Temple in the coming season, he added.

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