Uruguay and China should strengthen future-oriented cultural cooperation in order to boost the continuous and steady development of bilateral ties, Uruguayan President Jorge Batlle Ibanez said Thursday in Montevideo.

Uruguay and China have maintained frequent political and economic contacts these years, but conducted comparatively fewer cultural exchanges, Batlle noted at a meeting here with a visiting Chinese delegation led by Deputy Culture Minister Chen Xiaoguang.

In a certain sense, said the president, cultural exchanges are more important for two countries to promote their relationship as such interaction can make bilateral ties more deepened and persistent.

The two nations ought to attach special significance to enhancing cultural exchanges between their young people and teenagers, in order to further develop bilateral relations, he stressed.

China has vast prospects for development, and contacting and knowing China has become an urgent need to the world, Batlle said.

He proposed the two countries start right now consultation on forming Chinese-language schools in Uruguay as studying Chinese is a key means to understand Chinese culture.

The Chinese delegation arrived here Thursday for a visit at the invitation of the Uruguayan Education and Culture Ministry. During the visit, the two sides will sign an accord on the cultural cooperation program between 2004 and 2006.

Source: Xinhua