Vice premier holds talks with Singaporean deputy PM

Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi held talks with visiting Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in Beijing Friday and jointly presided over the first conference of the bilateral cooperation joint committee between the two countries.

Wu said that since China and Singapore established diplomatic ties 14 years ago, heads of the two states have made unremitting efforts to maintain healthy and stable development of the bilateral relations.

Wu said the Chinese government always attaches great importanceto bilateral ties with Singapore. In 2002, heads of the two statesreached important consensus on cooperation in four key areas including high technology, western development of China, overseas investment by China and talents exchanges and training.

To promote all-round cooperation between China and Singapore, the two governments established a bilateral cooperation joint committee. Wu said that China and Singapore have not only set a clear goal of bilateral cooperation, but also established an improved mechanism to promote the cooperation.

Wu spoke highly of Singapore's becoming the first country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to acknowledge China's market economy status.

She said China and Singapore have become important trade partners for each other. In 2003, bilateral trade between the two countries reached nearly 20 billion US dollars worth. Wu expressedher belief that with the joint efforts of the two countries, the bilateral trade volume will surely exceed 50 billion dollars.

Wu said the Chinese side welcomes Singapore guests to participate in the development of China's old industrial bases like northeast China, and also welcomes Singapore to attend the first Sino-ASEAN fair to be held in this November in Nanning, provincial capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Wu said China also welcomes Singapore to join the China-Thailand zero tariff arrangement on vegetables and fruits, which was implemented on Oct. 1, 2003.

The Chinese side is willing to cooperate with Singapore in promoting the establishment of a free trade zone between China andASEAN, and discussing ways to realize free trade between China andSingapore.

Lee agreed with Wu on her suggestions of developing bilateral relations between Singapore and China. He said the Singapore side is willing to promote trade and investment cooperation with China and push forward the bilateral ties to a new stage.

Lee said the Singaporean government is ready to make further efforts to improve the construction of the industrial park in Suzhou, a scenic city in east China's Jiangsu province, trying to make it a mirror of Singapore-China cooperation.

The Singapore side is also willing to participate in China's development of the western areas and the old industrial bases likenortheast China, said Lee.

He expressed the hope that the both sides will hold further discussions on modifying the bilateral agreement of avoiding dual tariff, and start negotiations on free trade between the two countries in November.

Lee said the Singapore side always pays great attention to the ASEAN's cooperation with China, and is ready to further strengthencooperation between Singapore and China under the framework, thus to promote the progress of the China-ASEAN free trade zone.

The both sides also exchanged ideas on other regional and international issues of common concern. After the talks, Wu and Lee jointly witnessed the signing ceremony of nine cooperative documents between the two countries.