In a meeting with Mongolian Prime Minister Nambaryn Enkhbayar, Jiang said that he and Mongolian President Nachagyn Bagabandy reached an important consensus on the orientation for the development of Sino-Mongolian friendly relationship in 1999 when he made a state visit to Mongolia, and this time the Mongolian prime minister and the Chinese premier held fruitful talks Monday on deepening mutually beneficial cooperation in the new century.

Jiang said he believed that the prime minister's current visit will promote Sino-Mongolian friendly cooperation in all fields.

Jiang said that Mongolia has a vast territory with rich resources and great potential for economic development. As Mongolia's good neighbor, China sincerely hopes Mongolia will keep making achievements in construction and development, Jiang said.

He said that the current world international situation is on the whole peaceful and stable, but with local wars, tension and turbulences. "Taking a panoramic view of the development and changes in the international situation, we're still full of confidence in the world," Jiang said.

Since the September 11 incident in the United States, Jiang said terrorism has become a public scourge in the world, and people of various countries are cooperating in fighting terrorism.

China has always been opposed to terrorism in any form and supports the United Nations' important role on this issue.

Jiang said that terrorists are few in number and strikes on terrorism should avoid hurting the innocent.

Jiang said that China is happy to see the establishment of an interim government in Afghanistan, and expects it to fully represent the interests of all nationalities in Afghanistan and to ensure peace and reconstruction in Afghanistan.

Enkhbayar conveyed greetings from Mongolian President Bagabandy to Jiang. He said that China is an important neighbor to Mongolia, and developing long-term and stable friendly cooperation with China is one of the priorities of the Mongolian foreign policy.

He said that the Sino-Mongolian treaty on friendly cooperation signed in 1994 set a legal basis for developing bilateral friendly relations of cooperation, and the exchange of visits between the heads of states made clear the direction of bilateral relationship in the new century.

He said that his talks with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji Monday went very well and mutual understanding and mutual trust had been constantly reinforced.

Both governments have much to do and Mongolia is willing to work with China to put the positive achievements of this visit into practice so as to push forward the two countries' friendly cooperation, he said.

He said that Mongolia is firmly opposed to terrorism, and at the same time believes that attention should be paid to dealing with the root causes of terrorism.

The prime minister spoke highly of China's important contributions to world peace and stability. Mongolia expects China to play an even greater role in the international arena, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2002)