On June 6, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Foreign Minister Mongi Hamdi of Tunisia in Beijing. The two Foreign Ministers spoke positively of the achievements of the sixth ministerial meeting of China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF) that was just concluded, and reached extensive consensuses on developing bilateral relations.

Hamdi thanked China for offering support to Tunisia in its political, economic and other aspects in the times of Tunisia’s experiencing historical changes. Tunisia is willing to develop strategic cooperation with China in various fields and at various levels, and to become China’s good partner in North Africa and the Middle East. He hoped that China will intensify investment in Tunisia and help Tunisia in fighting against terrorism.

Wang Yi expressed that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relationship between China and Tunisia. The Chinese side stands ready to take this as a new starting point to strengthen bilateral friendly exchanges in an all-round way, to cement political mutual trust, and to guide the development of bilateral relations. The key to expanding bilateral economic and trade cooperation is to combine the needs of the Tunisian side with the abilities and advantages of the Chinese side. Both sides can tap potentials for cooperation in traditional fields including infrastructure construction, communication, agriculture, and phosphate, and expand cooperation in new-type fields such as renewable resources, complete equipment and automobiles. Both sides should also reinforce anti-terrorist cooperation and facilitate closer people-to-people and cultural exchanges, so as to promote China-Tunisia relations to a higher level.

Wang Yi said that, the Chinese side feels happy for the important and positive progress Tunisia has made in its political transitional process, respects the wishes and choices of the Tunisian people, and believes that the Tunisian people will find a development path suitable for their own national conditions. The Chinese side will, as always, provide help to Tunisia within its power, so as to make contributions to the economic and social development of Tunisia.

Both sides also exchanged views on the Syrian issue.