On April 24, 2006, Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived in Rabat, capital of Morocco, kicking off a state visit to this country.

President Hu's current visit is the first one to Morocco by the Chinese head of state in the new century. During the visit, President Hu will hold talks and meetings with King Mohammed VI and other Moroccan leaders and related agencies of the two countries will sign agreements on cooperation in the areas of economy, trade, culture, medical care and health.

Both countries and their people enjoy a time-honored history of exchanges and Morocco is the second African country to establish diplomatic ties with the New China. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 48 years ago, bilateral relations have been developing smoothly with continuous friendly contact at all levels and remarkable cooperation in various areas. In recent years, bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation in the economic and trade area has been developing rapidly and last year the trade volume approached 1.5 billion US dollars, an increase of 28% over the same period of the previous year. Both countries have kept sound communication and coordination in international affairs, as well as in China-Africa and Sino-Arab Forums.

Hu arrived in Rabat from Saudi Arabia's eastern city of Dammam by special plane after concluding his state visit to Saudi Arabia. Prior to that, Hu has already visited the United States. He will also visit Nigeria and Kenya.