China to offer more public products to whole globe through innovation: spokesman

China will accelerate its efforts to enhance cooperation in scientific and technological innovation, aiming to provide more public goods for the international community and make significant contributions to global sci-tech and economic development, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press briefing in Beijing on Friday.

Lin's comments came in response to a report from Morgan Stanley, which highlighted that China has taken a commanding lead in the race to develop humanoid robots, with the total number of related patents issued by China over the past five years surpassing that of any other country.

"'Innovated in China' has become a global buzzword for the year 2025. China has broken into the top ten of the Global Innovation Index for the first time, and has been leading the world for three consecutive year with the most clusters in the global top 100 innovation clusters. From the launch of large-scale AI model to the deep integration of AI and robots, China's achievements in sci-tech innovation have dazzled the world. Innovation drives China's robust economic growth, boosts global economic recovery and enhances the wellbeing of people of all countries," he said.

"China's technology and solution of building high-speed railways and smart ports have been introduced to the world, helping other countries build better infrastructure. China's Beidou services cover more than 140 countries and regions in such areas as disaster early warning, transportation and agriculture. The China-Brazil Science and Technology Innovation Center has made clean energy accessible for remote areas. China also shared with Mongolia, Saudi Arabia and other countries its technologies in combating desertification. China's smart agriculture has enabled Egypt to better cope with water shortages and food security challenges," he said.

"Looking forward, China will continue speeding up its effort and enhancing cooperation in sci-tech innovation, providing more public goods for the world and making greater contribution to global sci-tech and economic development," the spokesman said.

China to offer more public products to whole globe through innovation: spokesman

The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) on Thursday lowered its key interest rates by 100 basis points, or 1 percent, the CBE reported.

The CBE said in a statement that its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to cut the deposit rate to 20 percent, the lending rate to 21 percent, and the rate of the main operation to 20.5 percent, while also reducing the discount rate to 20.5 percent.

"This decision reflects the committee's updated assessment of inflation dynamics and outlook since the previous MPC meeting," it said.

According to an earlier CBE report, annual urban headline inflation in Egypt eased slightly to 12.3 percent in November, down from 12.5 percent in October, driven by a slowdown in food price inflation, which declined to 0.7 percent in November from 1.5 percent a month earlier.

This marks the fifth interest rate cut by Egypt's central bank so far this year.

Egypt cuts key interest rates by 1 pct as inflation slightly down