China and Seychelles in Victoria Saturday agreed to promote pragmatic cooperation in tourism, fishery, human resources and other areas.

 

Visiting President Hu Jintao and his Seychellois counterpart James Michel held official talks and agreed to advance the already good ties to a new stage.

 

Hu was on a state visit to Seychelles, the last leg of his current eight-nation Africa tour.

 

One of the key tasks of his visit is to implement the commitments made by China in the Beijing summit of the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) last November and the consensus reached between China and the island country.

 

To that end, Hu proposed both to develop partnership and increase exchanges between legislative, governmental and non-governmental departments of the two countries in an effort to enhance mutual understanding and trust.

 

To promote economic ties, Hu said that the Chinese government encourages Chinese enterprises to import more goods from Seychelles and invest more in the island country, in particular in infrastructure, telecommunication, hotel and entrepot trade.

 

China will continue to provide economic assistance to Seychelles, he said.

 

China has also pledged to train more technical and managerial professionals and send young volunteers for offering services, such as public health, music and Chinese language teaching.

 

Michel said Hu's visit was "historic" for bilateral ties between the two countries, which have already endured the test of time.

 

"Facts have proven that China is a sincere friend of Seychelles," he said.

 

He reiterated that Seychelles supports the one-China policy.

 

China and Seychelles inked five bilateral cooperation documents, covering economic and technological cooperation, education and investment promotion. Hu and Michel witnessed the signing of the documents.

 

Hu arrived in Victoria, capital of Seychelles, on Friday.

 

Last November, President Michel paid a state visit to China and attended the FOCAC Beijing Summit.

 

Hu is on an eight-nation Africa tour that has already taken him to Cameroon, Liberia, Sudan, Zambia, Namibia, South Africa and Mozambique.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 10, 2007)