CAIRO -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's Special Envoy Sun Yeli attended the opening ceremony of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) on Saturday at the invitation of the Egyptian government.

Before the ceremony, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi met with Sun, who is also China's minister of culture and tourism, and had a brief conversation with him.

Sun conveyed Xi's cordial greetings and presented Xi's congratulatory letter to al-Sisi. He said China attaches great importance to the development of China-Egypt relations and stands ready to work with Egypt to implement the important consensus reached between the two heads of state, advance practical cooperation and expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, so as to continuously enrich the connotation of the China-Egypt comprehensive strategic partnership.

Al-Sisi asked Sun to convey his sincere greetings to Xi and expressed heartfelt thanks to Xi's congratulatory letter on the opening of the GEM and for dispatching a special envoy to attend the ceremony. He added that Egypt is willing to deepen exchanges and cooperation with China in various fields and promote further development of bilateral relations.