Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Sudanese Foreign Minister Mustafa Othman Ismail discussed the Darfur issue and bilateral cooperation in a phone conversation Tuesday afternoon.  

Li and Ismail agreed to make concerted efforts for the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation. They also pledged to further cooperation within the framework of China-Africa and China-Arab cooperation forums.

They also exchanged views on properly resolving the Darfur issue.

Violence flared up in Sudan's western Darfur region in February 2003. During the two-year clash, thousands of people have been killed and over one million driven to neighboring Chad or internally displaced.

(Xinhua News Agency March 9, 2005)