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Chinese Premier Meets Maldivian Speaker
Visiting Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Thursday met with Maldivian parliament speaker Abdulla Hameed and the two leaders exchanged views on China-Maldives relations.
Premier Zhu told Hameed, speaker of the People's Council, that the Chinese side is satisfied with the continuous and stable development of China-Maldives relations, which is based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.
Zhu said it is a basic supporting point of China's foreign policy to strengthen its unity and cooperation with developing countries, and it is a set policy of China to develop long-term and stable relations of friendship and cooperation with the Maldives. China will always be a friend of the Maldives, he said.
The Chinese premier also expressed his hope that the legislatures of both countries will increase their contacts and make contribution to the promotion of friendship between the two peoples.
Hameed expressed his welcome to Zhu's visit, saying that the Chinese premier's visit bears special importance in advancing Maldives-China relations in the new century. The speaker said China is an important force in safeguarding world peace and justice and the Maldives treasures its relations with China and sets store by the increasingly important role played by China in international affairs. The Maldives is proud to have a friend like China and is satisfied with the friendly and cooperative relations with China in all fields, said Hameed.
Maldivian Foreign Minister Fathulla Jameel also called on Zhu and had a courtesy talk with the Chinese premier.
In the morning, Zhu attended the inauguration ceremony of the Fourth Phase of the Male Housing Project, a program with Chinese assistance.
Speaking at the ceremony, Maldivian President Gayoom called the project a major landmark of China-Maldives cooperation. He said that since the project launched in 1988, three blocks of flats have been completed, making an important contribution to the housing needs of Male.
"These buildings reflect the friendship and the goodwill of the government and people of China, in an area of great need and necessity to the people of the Maldives," said Gayoom. "We are deeply grateful to the contribution the government and the people of China are making to our social and economic progress."
Zhu said the fourth phase of the housing project is nothing but an ordinary civil engineering project, but is a building block of the China-Maldives friendship tower and a specific symbol of the friendly relation between China and the Maldives.
In the afternoon, Zhu left the Maldives for Sri Lanka. Gayoom went to the airport to bid farewell to the Chinese premier.
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