On April 17, 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province with Parviz Davoodi, first vice president of Iran, who is here to attend the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2009.

Wen said to develop friendship and cooperation between China and Iran is not only conducive to the fundamental interests of both countries, but also to regional and world peace and development.

Concerning the current global financial crisis, Wen said it has brought dramatic changes to the regional and world economic and political structures. China is willing to maintain high-level contacts and exchanges at all levels with Iran, strengthen bilateral cooperation and coordination and jointly tackle the challenges, he said. "We should also steadily further our energy cooperation and explore the potential of finance and trade cooperation, so as to advance our mutually beneficial cooperation," Wen said.

"China respects Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear energy, resolutely safeguards the international nuclear non-proliferation system and advocates that the Iranian nuclear issue should be peacefully resolved through dialogue and negotiation," said Wen. He also called on relevant parties in the Iranian nuclear issue to seize the current favorable opportunity and adopt a positive attitude to restart the negotiation as soon as possible. China is willing to continue to play a constructive role, he added.

Davoodi said Iran appreciates China's positive efforts for pushing forward bilateral ties. As the global financial crisis is still deepening, developing countries should strengthen cooperation, jointly combat the crisis and promote the reform of the global financial system. Iran attaches importance to China's significant role in dealing with the international financial crisis and hopes to maintain exchanges at all levels with China and enhance cooperation on economy, trade, energy and finance.

Davoodi said Iran is willing to resolve the nuclear issue and improve ties with relevant countries on the basis of mutual respect. "But we care more about actions," he said.