Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin on Wednesday expressed confidence that Canada-China relations will continue to grow stronger with the inception of a strategic partnership between the two countries.

The establishment of the strategic partnership, which was announced during Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Ottawa last month, marks a watershed in bilateral relations between Canada and China, which is now Canada's second largest trading partner, Martin told a reception held to mark the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

As Canada attaches increasing importance to its "Asian Gateway Strategy," which foresees Western Canada as a full-service corridor between Asia and North America, China's tremendous market forces would boost the bilateral relations to a "mature and deeper" level, Martin said, adding that Canada is looking forward to the fruits the enhanced partnership is to bear.

Foreign Minister Pierre Pettigrew also spoke highly of the Canada-China relations at the reception, jointly hosted by the Canada-China Legislative Association (CCLA) and the Chinese embassy in Canada.

"As China continues to command the world's attention with the strength of its economy and its increasing role in global institutions, relations between Canada and China continue to grow, " he said.

Pettigrew called for efforts to seek new ways of furthering the relationship. "We must ask ourselves what we want from the Canada-China relationship in the next 35 years," he said.

The reception at the Parliament Hill is one of a series of events celebrating the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Among some 200 people attending the reception were Canadian Senate Speaker Daniel Hays, Speaker of House of Commons Peter Miliken and Chinese Ambassador Lu Shumin.

Great headway has been made in the past 35 years in the development of bilateral relations, marked by frequent exchanges at various levels and progress in all fields of cooperation.

Statistics from the Chinese side show that at the end of 2004, two-way trade between China and Canada soared to 15.5 billion US dollars, a 100-fold increase over the levels of 35 years ago. During January-July this year, bilateral trade hit 10.6 billion US dollars, up 23.7 percent from the same period last year.

Source: Xinhua