Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong arrived in Cotonou on Friday for a two-day official visit to Benin at the invitation of Benin President Mathieu Kerekou.

Zeng, given a warm welcome by the Benin president upon arrival, said in a written statement issued at the airport that friendship between the two peoples has a long history although the two countries are far away.

Over a long period, mutual political trust between the two countries has been strengthened, cooperation in the areas such as economy and trade, culture and education, and health expanded, he said, adding in the new century, the Chinese side is willing to work together with the Benin side to push the friendly cooperative relations between the two countries to a new high.

The Chinese vice president said that he is looking forward to meeting Kerekou and other Benin leaders to exchange views on bilateral relations and on the issues of common concern.

He expressed the hope that his visit would be conducive to promoting mutual understanding, consolidating traditional friendship, deepening mutually beneficial cooperation for the further development of Sino-Benin friendship.

Zeng flew in after winding up his official visit to the Republic of Togo. Benin is the third leg of Zeng's first four-nation Africa tour which will also take him to South Africa. He had already visited Tunisia earlier this week.