Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed on Wednesday the signing of handover and delivery certificate for the Chinese-backed satellite Assembly, Integration, and Testing Centre (AITC) project in Egypt, according to a statement by Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation.

The AITC project was implemented by the Egyptian Space Agency (ESA) through a $21 million grant from China.

The EgyptSat 2 remote sensing satellite, which was assembled at the AITC, helped facilitate transfer of Chinese satellite assembly and testing expertise, and best practices in the field of remote sensing to Egypt, the statement noted.

EgyptSat 2 was successfully launched on 4 December 2023 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in China.

Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, said: “The project is a milestone in the history of Egyptian-Chinese cooperation in the field of exchanging experiences and knowledge. We look forward to strengthening tripartite cooperation in the field of assembling and testing satellites between Egypt, China and African countries.”

The Chinese government provided $92 million in grants for EgyptSat-2 and the AITC projects overseen by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

China has funded development projects worth about $1.7 billion in electricity, health, education and vocational training sectors, according to the statement.

Egypt is a key Middle Eastern partner in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).