Yuan Yue, deputy head of Guangzhou port authority, speaks during the signing ceremony on Nov 16. [Photo/Guangzhou Daily]

Guangzhou Port and Alexandria Port, the biggest port in Egypt, inked a letter of intent for establishing a friendly port relationship during the 4th Forum on China-Africa Local Government Cooperation, which was held both online and on-site in Beijing on Nov 16.

Alexandria Port became Guangzhou Port's 54th friendship port.

Since 2003, the Guangzhou Port has maintained a long-standing friendship with African ports and has signed friendship port cooperation agreements with the Port of Durban in South Africa, Lagos Port in Nigeria and the Autonomous Port of Dakar in Senegal.

As of now, Guangzhou Port runs six liner ship routes to the Suez Port in Egypt and it handled a total of 20,000 metric tons of imported cargo from Egypt and 440,000 tons of exported cargo from Guangzhou.

"Guangzhou Port has been attaching a lot of importance to the cooperation and communication with African ports and has now become the biggest container logistics port in the Chinese mainland, and a major hub port connecting China with African, Mediterranean and Asian areas," said Yuan Yue, deputy head of Guangzhou port authority.

Yuan added that the Guangzhou Port is expected to carry out practical cooperation with Alexandria Port in areas spanning launching new shipping routes, talent training and trade.