President ready to work more with Ethiopia

President Xi Jinping expressed China's readiness to expand pragmatic cooperation with Ethiopia on Wednesday, saying the nation supports it in leveraging its strengths as a regional transportation hub to build a rail-sea intermodal transportation network in East Africa and a demonstration area for high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

Xi made the remarks during a meeting with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

He said China-Ethiopia relations have become a good example of friendship and cooperation between China and Africa, with a strong foundation of political mutual trust and the continuous advancement of high-standard cooperation in various fields between the two countries.

China is willing to deepen unity and cooperation with Ethiopia and further advance their all-weather strategic partnership in order to make greater contributions to promoting China-Africa friendship, Xi said.

Xi emphasized the unwavering support between China and Ethiopia in defending their core interests and jointly opposing external interference, and said that the two countries have forged an unbreakable friendship.

Abiy lauded China's policies toward Ethiopia as embodying equality and mutual respect, saying the two countries' relations are based on mutual benefit.

He acknowledged the significant contributions of Chinese investments and cooperation to his country's economic and social progress, and said that Ethiopia remains committed to firm mutual support with China.

Ethiopia looks forward to deepening cooperation with China in various fields, such as trade, infrastructure, industry, land-sea intermodal transportation and security, he said, adding it is ready to closely collaborate with China in international multilateral affairs.