Chinese President Hu Jintao said in Switzerland on Monday China cherishes trust and cooperation with developing countries, when he met and had breakfast with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The developing countries are a major force for maintaining world peace and promoting common development, Hu said.

He said that organizations, such as the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the African Union, and the South American Common Market, have played an important role in strengthening unity among the developing countries and in safeguarding their own rights and interests, adding that exchanges and cooperation among the developing countries have produced great results in recent years.

Hu stressed that China is a member of the developing countries and has received support from many developing countries in various fields since a long time ago.

China cherishes trust and cooperation with developing countries, and always regards it as a cornerstone of its foreign policy to further develop friendly cooperation with developing countries, said the Chinese president.

China will always side with developing countries no matter what changes the international situation will undergo, he said.

His views were echoed by Bouteflika, Lula and Mahathir, all of whom spoke highly of the efforts made by China in pushing forward and further developing South-South and South-North cooperation.

The three foreign leaders also expressed the hope to keep close contact and deepen cooperation with China so as to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries and contribute to peace and development of mankind.

Hu, Bouteflika, Lula and Mahathir all attended an informal South-North leaders dialogue meeting between the heads of state or government of 11 developing countries and the leaders of the Group of Eight held in the French spa town of Evian on Sunday.