On February 2, 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao met respectively with Sudanese First Vice President Salva Kiir Mayardit and Second Vice President Ali Osman Mohamed Taha. Both sides held friendly talks on deepening bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation.

Hu said the Chinese government attaches great importance to developing friendly cooperative ties with Sudan. The starting point and foothold of developing bilateral friendly cooperation is to promote common development through mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of both peoples. The Chinese government will encourage more competitive businesses to participate in Sudan's economic development, especially infrastructure construction which has a direct bearing on people's livelihood, to help the Sudanese people build their homeland, said Hu.

On the situation in Sudan, Hu pointed out that national unity is an important condition for a country's prosperity and to realize peace conforms to the fundamental interests of all Sudanese people and thus is of far-reaching significance. Hu expressed China's appreciation for the Sudanese government's efforts to push for the realization of national reconciliation and for the achievements made in this regard. China sincerely hopes that comprehensive peace, stability and development would be realized at an early date in the African country, Hu said.

Kiir said the Sudanese government is making efforts to eradicate poverty and it hopes to carry out cooperation with China in the areas of investment, infrastructure construction, telecommunications and human resources development. He said post-war reconstruction is underway in Sudan's south, adding that his country welcomes China's participation in the process. Sudan hopes China would pay attention to the settlement of the Darfur issue and help resolve it, Kiir said.

Taha said the Sudanese government and people want to see increased friendly cooperation between the two countries. The Sudanese side hopes that President Hu's historic visit to Sudan would provide a fresh impetus to Sudanese-Chinese cooperation and open up broader prospects for bilateral ties, he said. The Sudanese government is striving to achieve peace and national reconciliation across the country and hopes that China would offer its strong support for solving the Darfur issue and issues concerning the south, Taha added.

State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan attended the above activities.