Tanzanian president in Shandong Province

Visiting Tanzanian President Benjamin Mkapa, Mrs. Mkapa and their party left Shanghai for east China's Shandong province Friday, continuing his China tour. Zhang Gaoli, secretary of the Shandong provincial committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and Han Yuqun, deputy secretary of the CPC Shandong provincial committee and provincial governor of Shandong, met with Mkapa.

Zhang said China and Tanzania enjoy very friendly cooperative relations. Shandong, as an important province of China, sent a medical team to Tanzania back in 1968. The two countries have a sound foundation for cooperation.

Zhang also gave a detailed account of Shandong's agriculture condition, and the living condition of the farmers.

Mkapa said Tanzania and China established diplomatic relations 40 years ago, and the two sides enjoy friendly and close bilateral relations. His current visit aims at further boosting such relations.

He said he expected to learn from Shandong's experience in agricultural development, so as to improve Tanzanian farmers' income and eliminate poverty.Tanzania welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Tanzania and carry out more trade cooperation, he added.

During the meeting, Mkapa reiterated Tanzania's adherence to the one-China policy.

Mrs. Mkapa and their party visited the Shandong provincial hospital in the afternoon and met with some members of medical teams which had offered medical aid to Tanzania.

President Mkapa is visiting China at the invitation of President Hu Jintao.

Source: Xinhua