On March 26, 2009, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun arrived in Bata, kicking off his two-day working visit to Equatorial Guinea.

During the visit, Zhai and Equatorial Guinea's Foreign Minister Pastor Micha Ondo Bile held working talks, exchanging in-depth views on deepening the existing friendly relations and enhancing cooperation. Both sides also signed a couple of cooperation documents including an agreement on economic and technological cooperation.

On March 27, Equatorial Guinean President Theodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo received Zhai and his delegation in the African palace. Obiang thanked for China’s long-standing disinterested assistance, pointing out that the two countries share profound traditional friendship. In recent years, bilateral economic and trade cooperation based on mutual benefit has continuously scored satisfactory achievements. Equatorial Guinea always deems China a reliable friend and is ready to work with it to continue exploring new ways of mutually beneficial cooperation and expand the area of cooperation to ensure steady development of bilateral friendly cooperative relations.

Zhai said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Equatorial Guinea have witnessed all-round, smooth development of friendly cooperative relations, with sincere friendship, equality and mutual assistance between both sides. China thanked for Equatorial Guinea’s adherence to the one-China policy and is ready to work with it in the new situation to jointly cope with the challenges posed by the current financial crisis. Both sides should actively implement the Follow-up Action of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, in a bid to lift bilateral friendly cooperation to a new level, added Zhai.

The Chinese delegation also inspected projects including a stadium and a primary school constructed by Chinese-funded companies, as well as the office building of the Equatorial Guinean Foreign Ministry in Bata built with Chinese assistance, and called on the construction workers.