China is eager to strengthen bilateral ties with Chad, Foreign
Minister Li Zhaoxing told his Chadian counterpart Ahmad
Allam-Mi yesterday.
The Chadian embassy was reopened in Beijing yesterday after the
two countries resumed diplomatic ties last August.
Before the ceremony to mark the opening of the embassy, Li told
Allam-Mi that bilateral exchanges and cooperation in various fields
have shown remarkable progress since August.
China will work with Chad to strengthen mutual political trust,
expand and increase personnel exchanges, and intensify cooperation
in trade and commerce and cultural and international affairs.
Agreeing with Li's remarks, Allam-Mi reviewed the positive
achievements of bilateral cooperation since the two countries
resumed diplomatic ties.
Chad attaches great importance to its relations with China and
will further expand cooperation and consolidate its friendship, he
said.
The two sides also exchanged views on major international and
regional issues of common concern.
The newly appointed Chadian ambassador to China, Ahmed Soungui,
accompanied Li and Allam-Mi to the embassy's new site in the
eastern part of Beijing where most of other embassies are
situated.
"I believe that through joint efforts, the tree of Sino-Chadian
friendship will surely have deep roots and thick foliage and yield
a lot more fruit," Li said at the embassy's opening ceremony.
Allam-Mi hoped to strengthen bilateral cooperation in education,
medicine, public health and telecommunication, saying Chad will
make all the efforts for it.
China and Chad established formal diplomatic links in 1972 but
Beijing severed diplomatic ties with Chad in 1997, when it "resumed
diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.
On August 6 last year, Li and Allam-Mi signed a joint communique
to resume diplomatic ties.
Allam-Mi arrived in Beijing on Wednesday morning on a three-day
visit, making it the first trip by a Chadian foreign minister to
China since the resumption of the ties.
(China Daily April 20, 2007)
