Egypt and China are seeing stronger ties in agricultural technology and smart tourism as their Belt and Road cooperation deepens, said Shady Yehia Abdel-Azim El-Mashad, deputy governor of Egypt's Beheira Province, on Monday.
In an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the Global Mayors Dialogue in Xi’an City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, El-Mashad said bilateral ties have expanded notably in modern agriculture, with Beheira seeking further Chinese investment.
He emphasized Beheira’s role as Egypt’s leading agricultural region and voiced hopes for large-scale cooperation projects with Chinese partners.
"I would like to express how happy I am to be here in Xi'an I visited six years ago. There are many areas where we can collaborate with the city of Xi'an and with China in general, particularly in Beheira. Beheira is an agricultural hub. It's the number one city in agriculture in Egypt. Therefore, projects related to agriculture could include large-scale cooperation programs. We can also collaborate in industrial fields, as there are many factories and investment zones in Beheira," he said.
When asked what makes Beheira stand out for Chinese investors, El-Mashad pointed to the province's rich historical and cultural heritage.
"Beheira has many historical and tourist sites, such as Wadi El Natrun and Rosetta. I hope there can be cooperation in tourism, particularly smart tourism. There are also many agricultural, industrial and tourist opportunities in Beheira. These are what make Beheira very attractive for overseas investors, and are foundations for cooperation," he said.
The Global Mayors Dialogue opened in Xi'an on Monday, and the three-day event will conclude on Wednesday.
Egypt city seeks stronger ties with China in agriculture, smart tourism
Chinese scientists announced Monday that they have achieved a breakthrough in yak cloning, with 10 cloned calves all naturally delivered in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.
These calves, consisting of three black yaks and seven white ones, were born from March 25 to April 5 at a yak breeding and research base in Xizang's Damxung County, all meeting expected standards and steadily gaining weight.
The mass births came after the first cloned yak was born in July 2025, which has grown healthily and weighs about 183 kg now.
The achievement was made using a domestically developed breeding system that combines whole-genome selection with somatic cell cloning, following three years of research by a Chinese scientific team.
"Whole-genome selection can accurately pinpoint excellent genetic loci associated with large body size, fast growth, strong fecundity and disease resistance, high feed conversion efficiency, and tolerance to high-altitude and low-oxygen conditions (cold resistance). On this basis, somatic cell cloning enables 1:1 precise replication of the genotype through asexual rapid propagation (cloning), thereby compressing the breeding cycle to within five years," said Fang Shengguo, a professor at the College of Life Sciences at Zhejiang University and director of the State Conservation Center for Gene Resources of Endangered Wildlife.
Yak farming is one of the key industries targeted for development in Xizang during the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). Traditional yak breeding has relied on phenotype selection, a process that can take up to 20 years and often leads to declining genetic quality.
Researchers said the new method can shorten the breeding cycle to less than five years by accurately identifying desirable genetic traits such as faster growth, disease resistance, feed efficiency and adaptation to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments, while enabling rapid replication of elite breeding stock.
Experts added that the technology could also support conservation efforts for rare yak genetic resources, including the endangered golden wild yak, whose population in Xizang is estimated at more than 300.
So far, the research team has developed more than 200 cloned embryos of golden wild yaks and hybrid wild-blood yaks, laying the groundwork for future embryo transfer and species recovery programs.
China achieves large-scale births of cloned yaks
