China, Angola celebrate 25th anniversary of diplomatic ties

BEIJING, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- China and Angola celebrated the 25th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties here on Friday.

At a reception hosted by the Chinese People's Association For Friendship With Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), a major non-governmental organization, CPAFFC President Chen Haosu said "relations between the two countries have developed stably with enhanced mutual political trust".

He noted Chinese companies have been active participants in Angola's economy, and Chinese-aided projects have produced positive economic and social benefits for the African country.

Andre Panzo, Minister Counselor of the Embassy of the Republic of Angola in China, said the diplomatic ties between the two countries were a "common treasure" of the two peoples. "Both sides should make more efforts to conserve the treasure and reinforce cooperation to benefit more people in the countries."

He added the Angola government looks forward to more political, economic, cultural and technological exchanges with China, and cooperating in developing new modes of South-South Cooperation.

Zhai Jun, assistant Chinese foreign minister, was also present at the occasion.

Angola is one of China's largest trade partners in Africa. Last year, bilateral trade exceeded 10.3 billion U.S. dollars from January to October, up 3.5 percent from the same period a year earlier, according to Chinese Customs statistics.