Chinese president meets UN Secretary General

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday. The UN chief arrived in in Beijing last night on an official visit from July 17 to 19. He will attend the opening ceremony of the fifth Ministerial Meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) on Thursday. During the meeting, the Chinese President said that Ban is an old friend of China, adding that the leaders have met several times since Ban's appointment as secretary general to exchange views on major international issues, according to Chinese News Agency (Xinhua). Hu said Ban's visit and attendance at the opening ceremony of the FOCAC meeting indicates that the UN chief has paid a great deal of attention to UN-China cooperation and strongly supports the new strategic partnership forged between China and African countries. For his part, Ban expressed gratitude for the opportunity to visit the country during his second term as secretary general. "This is a great example of how China can contribute to the developing world and to South-South cooperation," Ban said.