On February 1, 2010, Cypriot President Demetris Christofias met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Nicosia, capital of Cyprus.

Yang first conveyed the cordial greetings and best wishes of President Hu Jintao to President Christofias. Yang said that since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries, bilateral relations have witnessed substantial development. During President Christofias’s attendance at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) summit in 2008, the leaders of the two countries reached important consensus, pointing out the direction for the development of bilateral ties. With the joint efforts of both sides, China-Cyprus relations have achieved new progress over the past year. Both sides have increased political trust, scored positive outcomes in pragmatic cooperation in all areas and maintained close coordination and cooperation in international affairs with frequent personnel exchanges at all levels. China highly praises Cyprus’s firm support for China’s core concerns. Yang emphasized that China values the traditional friendship with Cyprus and is ready to work with it to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, explore cooperation channels, expand trade scale and increase mutual investment to push bilateral ties to a new level. China welcomes Cyprus’s active participation in the Shanghai World Expo, he added.

Christofias thanked for President Hu’s regards, saying that Foreign Minister Yang’s visit shows the ever closer friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries. He said Cyprus-China friendship enjoys a long history and was jointly cultivated by the older generations of leaders of the two countries. Cyprus is satisfied with the development of bilateral ties in recent years, is delighted to see China’s development and the elevation of its international status and thanks for China’s firm support over the years. Christofias said that his country will as always advance bilateral friendly cooperative relations, continue to adhere to the one-China policy and make further efforts for the development of EU-China ties. Cyprus will actively participate in the Shanghai World Expo in 2010 to better showcase itself to China and the whole world.

On the same day, Foreign Minister Yang also held talks with Cypriot Foreign Minister Marcos Kyprianou. Both sides exchanged views on a wide range of issues including bilateral ties as well as international and regional issues of common concern. Following their talks, the two foreign ministers attended a joint press conference.