Iraqi President Jalal Talabani on Tuesday left Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, for home.

Before leaving Nanjing, the third leg of Talabani's week-long state visit to China, Talabani met with Jiangsu Governor Liang Baohua on Tuesday morning.

Talabani said that he was impressed by the great changes that had taken place in Jiangsu, which he first visited 52 years ago.

He said that Iraq-China relations had progressed significantly in recent years and that he considered his visit to China a success.

I hope to be back again soon, Talabani said, adding that his delegation will "take a message of friendship from the Chinese people back to the Iraqi government and people".

Liang said Jiangsu is one of the most open and developed regions in China, and would like to expand economic, cultural and educational cooperation with Iraq.

Talabani is the first Iraqi president to visit China since the two countries forged diplomatic ties in 1958.

The visit took Talabani to Beijing and northwest China's ancient city of Xi'an.

During his stay in Beijing, he met with Chinese President Hu Jintao, top legislator Wu Bangguo and Premier Wen Jiabao. China and Iraq also signed four agreements, including one that canceled some Iraqi debt.

Talabani was elected president of Iraq in April 2005, becoming the first Kurdish president in Iraqi history.

Source: Xinhua