Egypt's foreign minister Sameh Shoukry will meet China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Zhang Ming in Cairo Tuesday, to prepare for the upcoming visit of Chinese president Xi Jinping in January, MENA reported.

They will also discuss bilateral relations and ways to cooperate between both countries, in addition to coordination regarding regional matters of common interest.

Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi visited Beijing in December 2014 and signed five strategic partnership agreements including for cooperation in economy, trade, electricity and industry.

China is Egypt's fifth largest trading partner.

In December 2015, Egypt proposed 15 investment projects worth $15 billion at the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in South Africa's Johannesburg and China expressed its interest in projects in the Suez Canal zone related to power generation, logistics, infrastructure and transportation.

Egypt's cabinet spokesperson Hossam Qaweesh said then that the 60th anniversary of Chinese-Egyptian cooperation relations is in January and that Egypt considers the Chinese president's upcoming visit as the "inauguration of a new stage in the relationship."

China said it stands with Egypt in its efforts to combat terrorism, Qaweesh added.