Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza (C) pays a visit to Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center in south China's Guangdong Province, Oct. 31, 2006. Pierre Nkurunziza arrived in Guangzhou on Monday evening for a ten-day visit to China. -Xinhua

Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza said in Beijing yesterday that the fraternity between his country and China will last for long.

Nkurunziza made the remarks in a meeting with the executive vice governor of Guangdong Zhong Yangsheng.

Nkurunziza said he appreciated China's long-term assistance to African countries, in particular the educational and medical assistance to Burundi after the country got its independence.

Such generous assistance demonstrated the true fraternity between the developing countries, Nkurunziza noted.

He told Zhong that as an agricultural country, Burundi has 90 percent of its total population engaging in agriculture and is eager to develop its industrial sector through opening-up policies.

Burundi would like to cooperate with China in this regard, he added.

Zhong said the economic link between Guangdong and Burundi develops rapidly in recent years and both sides have the wish for further development.

According to Zhong, the total trade volume between Guangdong and Burundi was 1.96 million U.S. dollars in 2004 and the figure soared to 7.56 million U.S. dollars in 2005.

The Burundian president delivered a speech at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, in which he said the young and energetic students reminded him of his teaching life in the University of Burundi.

He told the university students that it is of great significance for each developing nation to advance its education sector and he would very much like to see more Burundian student to study in China and wider cooperation with China in the educational field.

In a visit to the local Dongsheng Farm, Nkurunziza asked many questions concerning the growing of vegetables, the local types of vegetables and the operation of the farm.

Nkurunziza will also make stopovers in Shenzhen, a booming city in Guangdong, and Guiyang, capital of southwest China's Guizhou Province, before heading for Beijing to attend a summit of the Forum on the China-Africa Cooperation running from Nov. 4 to 5.