Magharebia

Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, arrived in Tunisia on Sunday (April 15th) for a three-day working visit at the invitation of Abdallah Kallel, speaker of Tunisia's Chamber of Advisors. Tunisia is the first stop on Jia's African tour, which is set to include Ghana, Zimbabwe and Kenya. Xinhua quoted Jia as saying that his visit to Africa aims to create consensus between Chinese and African leaders, and to further the implementation agreements reached last November at the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Co-Operation (FCAC). Jia voiced his hope to strengthen bilateral relations with Tunisia and to boost economic and trade co-operation. (TAP, Xinhua, La Presse)