Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with Ethiopian President Girma Wolde Giorgis on Monday in Addis Ababa.  

Premier Wen said the relationship between China and Ethiopia has a long history and that the bilateral relations has been developing fast recently with abundant achievements.

As developing countries, mutual trust in politics, mutual respect, equal treatment to each other are the precondition of further development of bilateral cooperation, Wen said.

Wen said China respects the development road chosen by the Ethiopian people, and is willing to work with the Ethiopian side to improve the friendship among the peoples and expand mutual-beneficial cooperation.

Girma said he hoped Premier Wen's visit and the ongoing Second Ministerial Conference of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum are successful.

He said the friendly relationship between China and Ethiopia has developed smoothly, with many results achieved in different areas of cooperation.

He welcomed more and more Chinese companies to take part in the economy construction of Ethiopia.

(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2003)