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 Zhaoxing 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.

Source: China Daily