China to forge closer ties with Czech, says Chinese top legislator

Wu Bangguo (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China, shakes hands with Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek during their meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, on June 28, 2005.

The China's National People's Congress (NPC), or China's top legislature, wants to intensify exchanges with Czech parliament to promote bilateral friendly cooperation, China's top legislator Wu Bangguo told visiting Czech Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek Tuesday in Beijing.

Wu, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, said that to deepen the friendly ties between China's NPC and Czech parliament constitutes an important part of the development of bilateral relations.

He said the Chinese side would like to continue promoting exchanges and cooperation with Czech at all levels so as to jointly strengthen and expand the social foundation of China-Czech friendship.

The Chinese top legislator said China and Czech share broad common interests and have no conflicts concerning fundamental interests.

"Bilateral cooperation in economy, trade, culture, education, science and technology has produced outstanding results," he said. Statistics show that bilateral trade between China and Czech in 2004 reached 1.8 billion US dollars, growing nine times compared with the figure 10 years ago.

Paroubek said the two countries enjoy a great potential in further cooperation and he hoped his visit would further boost bilateral mutual-beneficial cooperation.

He said his government wants to maintain the exchanges of high- level visits with China, promote mutual understanding and further improve cooperation in economy, investment, culture, sports and tourism.

Paroubek arrived in Beijing on Saturday, starting a working visit to China as guest of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao.

Source: Xinhua