Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun meets with the prime minister of Tunisia's interim government	Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun holds talks with the Tunisian secretary of state to the minister of foreign affairs

On March 7, 2011, visiting Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun met with Beji Caid-Essebsi, prime minister of the Tunisian national unity government (the interim government) at Carthage Palace in Tunisia.

Zhai conveyed Premier Wen Jiabao's cordial greetings to Caid-Essebsi, hailing the steady development of China's friendly cooperative relations with Tunisia since the two countries forged diplomatic relations in 1964. Tunisia has recently undergone great political changes. The Chinese government respects the choice of the Tunisian people and is willing to cement and develop the bilateral traditional friendship and the mutually beneficial cooperation as always, said Zhai. He said China is also grateful to the Tunisian government for its strong support to China's recent mass evacuation of its citizens from Libya.

For his part, Caid-Essebsi asked Zhai to convey his regards to Premier Wen and spoke highly of the two countries' traditional friendly cooperative relations and their fruitful cooperation in a variety of fields. Under the new circumstances, Tunisia attaches more importance to its ties with China, and is willing to work concertedly with China to intensify exchanges at different levels and expand bilateral cooperation in a comprehensive way, the prime minister added.

Zhai arrived in Tunisia for a visit on March 7. During his visit, Zhai also met with Radhouane Nouisser, Tunisian secretary of state to the minister of foreign affairs, and they exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual concern.