From June 15 to 16, 2017, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui visited Benin, during which he met with Secretary-General of the Presidency and Minister of State Pascal Irénée Koupaki of Benin, and held talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation Aurelien Agbenonci of Benin, exchanging extensive views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of common concern.

Zhang Yesui said that in recent years, China-Benin relations have maintained a sound development momentum. The two countries have seen political mutual trust, economic complementarities and fairly broad prospects for cooperation. China is willing to, together with Benin, tightly seize the two big opportunities of the implementation of China-Africa ten major cooperation plans and the “Belt and Road” initiative, and vigorously advance mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields on the basis of Benin’s location advantage and development needs, in a bid to better benefit the two peoples.

The Beninese side expressed that the friendship between Benin and China becomes even firmer as time goes by. The Beninese government and people sincerely thank China for its long-term and selfless assistance. Firmly committing to developing friendship with China, the country stands ready to, together with China, intensify coordination, seize the current hard-won cooperation opportunities, and deepen bilateral friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields, so as to comprehensively elevate Benin-China relations.