On August 12, 2011, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi who is here for a visit and to attend the opening ceremony of the 26th Summer Universiade in Shenzhen, Guangdong.

Hu pointed out that since China and Ethiopia established diplomatic ties 40 years ago, bilateral relations have grown stronger day by day. He said with the joint efforts of both sides, especially since the two countries established a comprehensive cooperative partnership in 2003, the two sides have maintained close contact between their leaders, continuingly improved political mutual trust, achieved fruitful results in cooperation and carried out close cooperation on international affairs.

Hu emphasized that China places great importance on its relations with Ethiopia and regards Ethiopia as an important cooperative partner in African and international affairs. Hu said China is ready to work with Ethiopia to expand political communication and dialogue, continue to support each other on issues concerning major interests of their own and deepen pragmatic cooperation in the areas of trade, investment, infrastructure construction, education and humanities. He expressed the willingness to further advance bilateral friendly cooperative relations to new stages.

Hu said in recent years, China-Africa relations have made new progress thanks to the promotion of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum. He said the two sides are working on developing a new strategic partnership that features mutual trust in politics, win-win cooperation in economy and exchange and mutual learning in culture. Hu said China is ready to have even closer communication and cooperation with Ethiopia and all other African countries to advance China-Africa strategic partnership in an extensive way.

Meles said he was very glad to visit China and attend the opening ceremony of Universiade. He said since the two countries established diplomatic ties, especially in recent years, bilateral relations have seen smooth growth as communication between the governments, political parties and people of the two countries continued to increase. Meles thanked China for its indispensible role in promoting economic growth of Ethiopia. He expressed the hope that the two sides will further strengthen cooperation in the areas of politics, trade, economy, investment and infrastructure construction so as to lift bilateral ties to new heights. Meles spoke highly of the relations between Africa and China, saying Ethiopia is ready to further advance the relations within the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum.

Dai Bingguo and other officials attended the meeting.