Namibian President Sam Nujoma called for the enhancement of economic cooperation with China on the basis of the sound political ties between the two countries during his visit to northwestern China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Nujoma made the remark Thursday at a meeting with Chen Jianguo, secretary of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Regional People's Congress.

He expressed his appreciation for Ningxia's achievements in industrial development, desertification control and urban greening.

Chen, who once led a CPC delegation to visit Namibia in 2003, briefed Nujoma and his party on Ningxia's social and economic situation.

Chen said Ningxia people cherish the traditional friendship with the African people, and are willing to make exchanges and cooperation with Namibia in such fields as economy, agriculture, industry, education, science and technology. This would help contribute to the promotion of Sino-Namibian friendly relations.

Nujoma arrived here Thursday from Beijing on a 10-day working visit to China as guest of Chinese President Hu Jintao. During his stay here, Nujoma acquainted himself with techniques in rice planting and grape wine making. He said that he hoped to learn from Ningxia's experience in developing agriculture, which is useful in Namibia because it is often plagued by droughts.

China is a unitary multinational state. Besides the Han ethnics, there are 55 ethnic minorities. The Chinese constitution stipulates that all ethnics in China are equal. Regional autonomy is practiced in areas where people of ethnic minorities live in compact communities.

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region is one of the five autonomous regions in China, with 1.99 million Hui ethnics living there, accounting for 34.7 percent of the total population in the region.

Besides Beijing and Ningxia, Nujoma and his entourage, including foreign and defense ministers, will also visit Shanghai Municipality in east China beginning July 24.