text: President Jiang Zemin Held Talks with Ghanaian President
  On November 1, President Jiang Zemin held talks with Ghanaian President John Kufuor at the Great Hall of the People. The two sides exchanged views on how to further develop bilateral relations.
  Jiang spoke positively of bilateral relations. He said that the friendship between China and Ghana dates back to a long time ago. Ghana is one of the first African countries to forge diplomatic ties with China. President Kufuor cast a historical vote for the resumption of China's legitimate seat in the United Nations when he was vice foreign minister of Ghana. He values ties with China and advocates expanding and strengthening cooperation in all fields since he came to office as president. The Chinese side appreciates this.
  Jiang said that China has always advocated respect for state sovereignty and development of friendly relations on the basis of non-interference in each other nations' internal affairs. China has provided constant economic assistance to Ghana for years, which aimed to develop friendship in fundamental interests of the two peoples. At the same time, all the administrations in Ghana have always sticked to the One China policy. President Kufuor and the Ghanaian government have reiterated on many occasions that Ghana's position on the Taiwan issue will not change and we appreciate that. Jiang reiterated that the Chinese government attaches great importance to traditional friendship between China and Ghana, and would like to work with the Ghanian government and people under President Kufuor's leadership and promote China-Ghana friendly relations and cooperation to a new level.
  On bilateral economic cooperation and trade, Jiang said that the Chinese government has attached great importance to economic cooperation with Ghana and considered trade links a driving force of bilateral ties. In the past decades, China has provided some assistance to Ghana within its capacity and made active contributions to Ghana's economic development and social progress. The Chinese government would like to follow the principle of equality, mutual benefits, and common development and make new progress on the existing basis in promoting bilateral economic cooperation and trade.
  President Kufuor thanked President Jiang for the invitation to visit China. He said that under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China has maintained political stability and enjoyed rapid economic development. Ghana fully understands the major influence of China in the world. His visit aimed to demonstrate the determination and stance of the Ghanaian government on deepening friendship and expanding mutually beneficial cooperation. For many years, China has provided a lot of assistance to Ghana, and reduced or exempted a large part of Ghana's debts. China will further provide new assistance to Ghana's road construction. At the same time, many Chinese companies are engaged in many economic activities in Ghana. The above assistance and economic cooperation and trade have benefited Ghana a lot. Ghana is deeply grateful. Kufuor said he would work to promote the all-round development of cooperative relations between the two countries at the government and people-to-people levels.