China, Burundi eye further parliamentary cooperation

BEIJING, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- China and Burundi vowed to push forward their inter-parliamentary cooperation in a meeting between top Chinese legislator Wu Bangguo and visiting Burundi's Senate Speaker Gabriel Ntisezerana Tuesday in Beijing.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislation body, hailed profound friendship shared between the Chinese and Burundian people, noting that the bilateral ties have entered into a new stage of development.

China always works for international democratization and respects the diveristies among the countries in the world, Wu said, adding that China respected the development path chosen by the Burundian people and would continue to offer assistance to the African country.

The top legislator stressed that the NPC highly values its friendly ties with the Burundian parliament. He said China was committed to further cooperation via various approaches and at various levels in order to play a positive role to boost bilateral relations.

Speaking about China-Africa relations, Wu pointed out the priority that China always puts on its ties with Africa.

He called on the two sides to work closer to implement the new approaches adopted at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of The Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and to push forward the new type of China-Africa strategic partnership to a higher level.

Expressing his appreciation to the long-term assistance offered by China, Ntisezerana said Burundi had already reached a key stage of its national development and hoped to learn from China's successful experiences to boost its own economic growth and maintain social stability.

Burundi welcomes more Chinese companies to invest and establish business there and the Senate of the Burundian parliament will continue to foster the friendly exchanges with the NPC, Ntisezerana said.