CAIRO, June 25 (Xinhua) -- China and Egypt have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) involving China's SANY Renewable Energy to establish Egypt's first wind turbine manufacturing plant and develop a 2,000-megawatt wind project in the northern Gulf of Suez area.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly witnessed the signing of the MoU on Wednesday, the Egyptian cabinet said in a statement.

The MoU aims to manufacture wind power equipment to meet the needs of the Egyptian market and export surplus production, while supporting Egypt's efforts to localize renewable energy technologies, increase local content in clean energy projects, and carry out solar and wind projects in local currency, according to the statement.

The agreement also covers the implementation of a 2,000-MW wind project in Egyptian pounds, with connection to the national electricity grid within a maximum of 23 months from the signing of the final agreements, according to the Electricity and Renewable Energy Minister Mahmoud Esmat, who also participated in the event.

The project comes as part of Egypt's national energy strategy, which targets raising the share of renewable energy in the energy mix to 45 percent within the next two years, the cabinet said. ■