On January 15, 2018 local time, President Ali Bongo Ondimba of Gabon met with Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Presidential Palace in Libreville.

Ali Bongo Ondimba asked Wang Yi to convey his greetings and wishes to President Xi Jinping and thanked President Xi Jinping and the Chinese people again for their warm hospitality for his visit to China at the end of 2016. He said that Gabon and China are friends with special friendship and the visit has strengthened his determination and confidence in deepening Gabon-China relations. Ali Bongo Ondimba expressed that Gabon, with abundant resources and huge economic potentials, has formulated the strategy of economic diversification. He hoped that China, as Gabon’s most reliable cooperation partner, will continue to support and participate more actively in the process of Gabon’s national development and carry out all-round mutually beneficial cooperation in such fields as mining, fishery and agricultural processing with Gabon. Appreciating China’s long-standing commitment to the foreign policy of friendly cooperation, mutual respect and no hegemony, the Gabonese side lauds and welcomes the important role played by China in African affairs. Gabon will continue to firmly stick to the one-China policy, support China’s great cause of reunification and safeguard China’s legitimate rights and interests in China-related issues, such as the South China Sea issue. Gabon is willing to actively participate in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road” and play an active role in China’s successful holding of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Beijing Summit.

Wang Yi conveyed the greetings from President Xi Jinping to Ali Bongo Ondimba. Wang Yi expressed that soon after Ali Bongo Ondimba took office as President of Gabon, President Xi Jinping invited him to pay a state visit to China at the end of 2016 and decided to lift China-Gabon relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership, which demonstrates that China attaches great importance to developing China-Gabon relations and that bilateral relations are now at a new starting point in history. The two sides should make joint efforts to effectively implement China-Gabon comprehensive cooperative partnership and become cooperation partners of mutual trust and support, cooperation partners of mutual benefit, win-win results and common development, cooperation partners that maintain peace and security, and cooperation partners that address regional and global challenges. The two sides should enhance experience exchanges on state governance and administration and support the efforts made by each other to safeguard legitimate rights and interests. China supports Gabon to translate its advantage of abundant resources into economic strength, and is willing to carry out cooperation in Gabon’s competitive fields and provide necessary assistance and support for Gabon to play a more active role in African affairs. China is ready to work closely with Gabon to successfully host the FOCAC Beijing Summit and explore new broad prospects for China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership through the joint construction of the “Belt and Road”.