Chinese Ambassador to Tunisia Liu Yuhe has highly praised achievements in bilateral cooperation and ties between Tunisia and China in recent years and expressed his conviction the ties will get closer in the future.

Liu made the comments during an interview with Xinhua before the visit to Tunisia by Li Changchun, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), which started Saturday.

Although Tunisia and China are geographically far away, the friendship between the two countries has a long history, Liu said.

He said bilateral relations have enjoyed a stable development, and China and Tunisia have made fruitful achievements in various fields since the two nations forged diplomatic ties in 1964.

In the political field, Liu said both sides have enhanced exchanges at various levels, and political mutual trust has been strengthened.

China and Tunisia have fostered close relations in recent years through high-level exchanges, he added.

In 2007, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, paid a visit to Tunisia to follow up on the results of the China-Africa Cooperation Summit held in 2006.

During the visit, the two countries signed a series of cooperative agreements to push forward China-Tunisia ties as well as relations between China and Africa to a higher level.

Liu believed that the visit by Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC's Central Committee, will further promote friendly and cooperative relations between the two parties and two nations.

Referring to economy and trade, Liu said the two nations constantly deepen bilateral economic and trade relations and widen cooperation fields.

The Chinese ambassador said China's aid projects in Tunisia have obtained good social and economic benefits and have been praised by all walks of life.

In addition, China and Tunisia have achieved satisfying results in trade, contract projects and investment. In 2007, bilateral trade volume reached 512 million US dollars, rising by 25 percent compared with last year.

He said at present, more and more Chinese enterprises pay attention to Tunisia and run their businesses smoothly in the country.

Moreover, Liu said both sides have made new progress in culture, education, sanitation, sport and tourism.

Many Tunisian people learn Chinese, while in 2008, China has sent 43 students for the first time on language-learning courses in Tunisia.

China has also sent 17 batches of medical teams comprising 683 healthcare personnel to Tunisia since 1973, making a great contribution to public health in the North African nation.

Liu also said China and Tunisia share similar opinions on a wide range of issues though the two nations have different conditions.

"China and Tunisia have maintained close coordination and consultation on the basis of mutual understanding and mutual trust," he said, "As developing countries, both nations have common tasks to safeguard national stability and promote development of national economy."

Liu said that leaders of both nations attach great importance to bilateral ties and he believed that China-Tunisia ties will achieve further development with joint efforts by the two sides.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2008)