During the third visit of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to Beijing, a broader spectrum of common interests between the two ancient civilizations have come out in the open, unveiling a more substantial bilateral tie than ever.

Right after the hour-long talk between Ciampi and Chinese President Hu Jintao here on Monday, a package of protocols were inked, involving cooperation in culture, trade, heritage property protection and even sports collaboration.

Obviously tempted by the success of the French Culture Year in China in 2004, Italy followed the suit to propose an Italian Culture Year in China and got his partner's endorsement for the year 2006 Monday.

Reviewing China's rapid progress over the past two decades, Ciampi said that he wished Italy would emerge in Chinese people's eyes as a modernized and competitive nation with both integrity and solidarity.

"When I first came to China in 1983, the country just started its reform. What it has become of now is an impressive country, up and coming," he said.

Of the eight protocols inked, three noticeable agreements between the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China and Italy's Minister of Industry have formally announced China's official agreement to import preserved pork, cowhide, sheepskin and goatskin from Italy.

While the whole nation of China is soaked in the euphoria of hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and thirstily borrows ready experiences from the world, the Italian Olympic Committee reached out to its Chinese counterpart and agreed to deepen their exchange in the years to come.

In term of weapon sales embargo imposed by the European Union on China since 1989, Ciampi said that Italy holds a positive view of a possible lift and would like to make active efforts in this regard.

In a joint statement for the press, Ciampi and Chinese President Hu Jintao stressed that their thorough talk has laid a solid foundation for their future cooperation as much consensus has been reached on a range of issues of common concern.

At the press conference, Ciampi also reiterated Italy's One-China policy and its stand against Taiwan independence.

In a response, Hu said that after 34 years of bilateral development, China and Italy have built an effective cooperation mechanism and achieved fruitful results in trade and technology exchange.

China and Italy, both with long history and profound culture, should maintain their high-level exchange, strengthen mutual trust at political level, upgrade their collaboration on battles against terrorism, proliferation of mass-destructive weapons and international crimes, and seek sustained development side by side, Hu said.

Hu also encouraged Italy to play a more active role in boosting the all-round strategic partnership between China and Europe.