On January 6, 2007, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.

Since the establishment of diplomatic ties over a decade ago, with the joint efforts of the leaders of both sides, the friendly relations and political mutual trust between the two countries have grown steadily, and the two sides have also had good cooperation in economy, trade, culture, education, health and human resources development, Li said, adding that the two countries have also had close coordination in international affairs. Li said the Chinese government attaches great importance to the development of Sino-Eritrean relations and will continue, to the best of its ability, to provide aid to the African country. China is ready to enhance cooperation with Eritrea within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to push for faster, healthier development of bilateral friendly relations and cooperation, the Chinese foreign minister said.

Isaias said China, as a good friend of Eritrea, has offered lots of assistance to the African country for a long period of time and made outstanding contributions to the improvement of the Eritrean people's livelihood, for which the Eritrean side is deeply grateful. Isaias reiterated his country's adherence to the one-China policy, and its support for the great undertaking of China's reunification.

Isaias spoke highly of China's efforts to strengthen cooperation with Africa and support the development of the continent. The important measures taken by the Chinese government at the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation last November were very encouraging to African countries, which help the African people see the future through hunger, disease and backwardness, and African countries, including Eritrea, would surely benefit from these measures, the president said.

Following the talks, Li and Eritrean Minister of Finance Berhane Abrehe signed the agreement on economic and technological cooperation between the two governments and other documents.