Chinese, Djibouti to Advance Bilateral Ties

Chinese President Chairs A Ceremony In Honor of His Djibouti Counterpart

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President Jiang Zemin said that China is willing to work with Djibouti to push forward their friendly bilateral ties in the new century.

In talks with visiting Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh Wednesday afternoon, Jiang said he believes Guelleh's visit will further enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between the two countries and their peoples.

Jiang spoke positively of the development of bilateral ties since the two countries forged diplomatic relations 22 years ago.

He expressed his appreciation and thanks to Djibouti for its commitment to the Sino-Djibouti friendship and support to China on the Taiwan and human rights issues.

China has always maintained that all nations, big or small, should be equal, and China and Djibouti, both developing countries, should further strengthen their friendship, unity, and cooperation, because it conforms to the fundamental and long-term interests of the two peoples.

China, as a friend of Djibouti, has been closely watching the development and progress in Djibouti, said Jiang, noting that the Djibouti people have made much progress in various sectors under the leadership of Guelleh in the past two years.

Jiang said that he appreciates Djibouti's peaceful and good-neighborly foreign policy and its active role in regional affairs.

Jiang said that the overall situation in Africa has been developing toward detente in recent years, and that promoting peace and seeking stability and development have been the mainstream in Africa.

African countries have been more conscious of unity and have been active in trying to solve the problems in the continent by themselves, and some progress has been made in this regard, Jiang said.

He noted that the African countries have continued to look for development roads in line with their own national conditions and with the gradual economic integration in the region the economy in Africa has been growing for the past six successive years.

From a long-term point of view, Africa is full of potential and hope, because the large continent is rich in natural resources and the people there are wise and industrious, Jiang noted.

He said that he is confident African countries will surely overcome the difficulties and realize prosperity and development in the new century as long as they maintain stability, embark on the development roads in line with their national conditions, strengthen unity, and can get more real help from the international community.

Jiang stressed that the Chinese government has always valued the development of the relations with African nations, which have been an important part of China's independent foreign policy of peace.

In the new century, China will push ahead such relations and build a new partnership with African countries including Djibouti on the basis of long-term friendship, peace and mutual benefit, he added.

Jiang reviewed the China-Africa Cooperation Forum --- Ministerial Conference Beijing 2000 held in October last year, saying that the event has set up a good framework for the further development of Sino-African ties in the 21st century. He expressed confidence that with joint efforts, the two sides will attain all the targets set by the forum and accelerate the steady growth of cooperative relations in a concrete manner.

Guelleh extended thanks to China for supporting Djibouti and spoke highly of the traditional friendship and cooperation between China and Africa. He said China's success in hosting the China-Africa Cooperation Forum last year shows the Chinese people always support the Africans, and the event has won wide acclaim among African countries.

Djibouti is willing to expand cooperation with China in all sectors, and welcomes Chinese enterprises to get involved in the development of mineral and natural resources in Djibouti, Guelleh said, noting that entrepreneurs in his delegation had held effective communications with their Chinese colleagues during the ongoing visit.

He also stressed that the Djibouti government always sticks to the "one China" principle and supports China's stand on the human rights issue.

After the talks, Jiang and Guelleh oversaw the signing of three documents on Sino-Djibouti cooperation.