The Middle East News Agency (中東通訊社), or MENA, is Egypt’s official news agency. It was established on December 15, 1955 as a joint-stock company owned by Egyptian press establishments. It was nationalized in 1960 and placed under the Ministry of Information. The agency has ties to Chinese state media going back decades. MENA’s chairman has said the agency signed its first news exchange agreement with Xinhua in 1958, and that the agreement remains in effect. He has also praised cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative. At the 2024 Belt and Road Journalists Forum in Chongqing, MENA executive editor-in-chief Ayman Elkady described his years in China as among the happiest of his life and called for deeper Egypt-China cooperation.