President Hu Jintao said China would support Somali interim government's efforts to seek peace and reconstruction, urging the UN Security Council to grant it more support and assistance.

 

Hu made this remark on Tuesday during his meeting with Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf.

 

Yusuf said Somalia was working on a reconstruction and development plan and hoped to expand friendly cooperation with China in political, economic and social sectors.

 

Yusuf arrived in Beijing on Thursday for the two-day landmark Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation which closed on Sunday afternoon.

 

China and Somalia established diplomatic relations on December 14,1960. Bilateral trade reached US$19.64 million in 2005.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2006)