On the morning of September 2, Yi Lianhong, Secretary of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Zhejiang Provincial People's Congress, met with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his delegation in Hangzhou.

Yi Lianhong first welcomed President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his delegation on behalf of the CPC Zhejiang Provincial Committee, Zhejiang Provincial People's government and more than 66 million people of Zhejiang. He said that the traditional friendship between China and South Sudan is profound. The President's visit to China and Zhejiang and attending the 2024 FOCAC summit is a strong testament to his commitment to promoting friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation between South Sudan and Zhejiang. Over the years, cooperation between Zhejiang and South Sudan in economy, trade, education, people-to-people exchanges and other fields has been steadily advanced, yielding fruitful outcomes. Zhejiang will take the opportunity of the President's visit to further enhance high-level exchanges, expand economic and trade cooperation and deepen people-to-people exchanges under the framework of joint pursuit of the BRI, so as to upgrade China-South Africa cooperation.

President Salva Kiir Mayardit thanked Zhejiang for its warm reception. He said that South Sudan and China enjoy profound friendship and maintain close exchanges and cooperation. This visit to Zhejiang will deepen their understanding of a true, multi-dimensional, and panoramic image of China as well as its modernization drive. Blessed with rich natural resources and investment opportunities, South Sudan looks forward to strengthening exchanges with Zhejiang in all areas, deepening pragmatic cooperation in the fields of economic and trade investment, agricultural mining, transportation and tourism, continuously enhance mutual friendship to the benefit of people from two countries and make joint efforts to advance the development of South Sudan-China relations.