Benin President Yayi meets senior Chinese legislator Zhou Tienong

Benin President Boni Yayi on Tuesday met with Zhou Tienong, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) of China, at the Presidential Palace in Cotonou, capital of Benin, and the two sides vowed to strengthen relations of friendship between the nations. During the meeting, Yayi expressed welcome to the Chinese legislative delegation and recalled his meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit to China in September. He also expressed thanks to the Chinese government for its strong support to his country in the development of infrastructure, education and health and said that China is one the reliable partners in the national development. It is Benin's consistent policy to keep friendly relations of cooperation with China, Yayi said, the government of Benin would adhere to the one China policy and work with China to further strengthen the friendly relations of all-round cooperation between the two countries, as well as to enhance their coordination in the international affairs. Zhou Tienong agreed with Yayi on the bilateral relations, saying that the two nations have brotherly relations and have kept sincere friendship and equal treatment. He said the cooperation in various sectors between the two countries have gained fruitful achievements. Zhou noted that during President Yayi's visit to China in September, the leaders of the two countries have reached broad agreement in deepening friendly cooperation between the two nations and what they have agreed are on the implementation. China would work together with Benin to further push the friendly exchanges on different levels and broaden the pragmatic cooperation in various fields to push the bilateral relations to a new height, said Zhou.