On June 1, 2012, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

Marzouki said the Tunisian people always cherish the friendship with the Chinese people, and Tunisia regards China as an example of successful social and economic development. Tunisia is willing to strengthen cooperation and exchanges with China in various areas and to further their coordination on international and regional affairs, the Tunisian president said. "Tunisia is full of confidence about the broad prospect of the relations with China," he said.

Yang thanked President Marzouki for personally attending and addressing the opening ceremony of the Fifth Ministerial Meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum (CASCF). Yang said the traditional friendship between the two countries has been deeply rooted in the hearts of both peoples and they have shown mutual understanding and mutual support for each other with remarkable outcomes of cooperation in various fields. He said China was pleased with the positive results obtained by the new Tunisian government in economic development and improvement of people's livelihood. The development of China-Tunisia relations is facing a new opportunity, Yang said, expressing China's willingness to work together with Tunisia to further enhance political mutual trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation in all areas, and promote cultural exchanges, so as to continuously upgrade the friendly relationship between the two countries.