Indonesian President to visit China

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will pay a state visit to China from July 13 to 16 at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, said Chinese

Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing Tuesday.

Liu told a regular press conference that China and Indonesia, as two good neighbors, always enjoy good bilateral relations, with exchanges of high-level visits being more frequent as well as mutual understanding and trust continuously deepening.

President Hu Jintao made a successful visit to Indonesia April this year. During the visit, Hu sand Susilo signed a joint declaration on strategic partnership between China and Indonesia, pushing the Sino-Indonesian relations to a new high.

"China is satisfied with the development of Sino-Indonesian relations," Liu said.

According to the spokesman, bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached 13.48 billion US dollars last year, a record high in history. The first five months of this year has witnessed a bilateral trade volume of 6.7 billion US dollars, up 37 percent year-on-year.

The two sides also expanded their cooperation in such fields as science, technology, culture, military and security, made active civilian exchanges, and maintained close coordination in international and regional affairs, especially in issues concerning promoting regional cooperation and safeguarding interests of developing countries, the spokesman said.

Liu said that during President Susilo's upcoming visit, Chinese leaders will exchange views with him on expanding the friendly cooperation between the two sides, and a series of documents on economic and trade cooperation will be signed.

Source: Xinhua