Beijing, September 23rd—Zhao Shitong, Assistant-minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, met here today on the morning with a delegation of senior officials of Zambia's United Party for National Development (UPND) led by Batuke Imenda, Secretary-General of the UPND. 

Zhao said, earlier this month, President Xi Jinping met with President Hakainde Hichilema, who is in China to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing, and reached important consensus on comprehensively advancing and deepening China-Zambia comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. The Chinese side is willing to work with the Zambian side to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state and the outcomes of the 2024 Summit of the FOCAC in Beijing, strengthen exchanges and mutual learning of experience in state governance and administration, deepen practical cooperation in agriculture, energy, youth, women and other fields through inter-party channels, and promote the development of state-to-state relations. 

Imenda thanked the Chinese side for its long-term selfless assistance to Zambia's national development and important support for Zambia's debt restructuring. He reaffirmed Zambia's adherence to the one-China principle and said, the UPND looks forward to learning from the valuable experience of the CPC in party and state governance, and hopes to enhance bilateral cooperation in all sectors through inter-party channels to advance Zambia's various causes for in-depth development.