CAIRO - China's Xinhua News Agency and Egypt's State Information Service (SIS) signed a memorandum of understanding on Thursday to step up their cooperation.

Cai Mingzhao, Xinhua's president, and Salah el-Sadek Ahmed, chairman of SIS, inked their signatures at a signing ceremony that is in the presence of visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Egyptian counterpart Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

According to the memorandum, the two parties shall conduct cooperation in news reporting in texts, photos, and audio-videos, as well as in other areas like translation, printing and publications with the aim of spreading information about each other across the world in a fair and objective manner.

Cai said media cooperation is a key part of bilateral ties between China and Egypt, and plays an important part to promote mutual understanding between the two peoples.

The two bodies, over the past decades, have seen a constant development of their relations, he said, adding that the signing of the document has opened new areas for their cooperation.

The Xinhua president also pledged that his organization will make full use of its resources to boost China's friendship with Egypt and the wider Arab world.

Ahmed said the memorandum is quite significant for SIS's cooperation with Xinhua, while his organization is looking forward to implementing what has been included in the document so as to further advance bilateral media cooperation.

The signing came at a time when Chinese President Xi Jinping is in his first state visit to the most populous Arab state.

On Tuesday, the president of Xinhua met in separate meetings with top executives of key Egyptian media outlets, including Chairman of the Board of Al Ahram Foundation Ahmed El-Sayed El-Nagger and Alaa Heidar, board chairman and editor in chief of MENA, Egypt's official news agency. They agreed to commit themselves to even broader and deeper cooperation.