Chinese President Hu Jintao's state visit to Spain as of November 13 is a major event of Sino-Spanish relationship, it will greatly strengthen political, economic and trade, scientific and technological and cultural cooperation between the two countries and bring China-Spain friendly relations to a new stage.

Located in the Iberian Peninsula in the southwestern part of the European continent, Spain is an important member country of the European Union (EU). After it acceded to the European Community (predecessor of the EU), Spain enjoyed political stability, sustained economic development and led EU member countries in terms of economic growth rate. At present, Spain is the fifth largest EU economic power, the world's fourth largest capital exporter and its GDP is ranked eighth in the economic cooperation organization.

Thanks to its economic growth for seven consecutive years, Spain presents a scene of prosperity and enjoys a good international image. It is not only a big tourism country, but also is a developed country with developed industry and agriculture, advanced science and technology and a perfect service industry, making it an indispensable component part of the world economic entity.

China and Spain established diplomatic relations in 1973. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties, bilateral relations have undergone continuous development, high-level contacts have been frequent, mutual political trust has been deepening with each passing day, and economic and trade cooperation has witnessed a good momentum of development. In July this year, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero paid a fruitful visit to China, during the visit, the two sides signed a number of cooperation agreements. People in various circles of Spain place great expectations on President Hu Jintao's visit, believing it is entirely possible for the visit to push bilateral cooperation to a new, unprecedented height.

The tremendous potential for economic cooperation between China and Spain constitutes an important foundation for the development of bilateral relations. Spain is implementing the "Asian action program", increasing its investment in Asia and expanding its economic cooperation with Asian countries, China is its most important cooperative partner.

The volume of trade between China and Spain has been going up year by year, it was only US$12 million in the early period after establishment of diplomatic ties, the figure rose to US$7.3 billion last year and is now making a spurt toward US$10 billion. However, this figure constitutes a very small percentage in each other's trade volumes of the two countries, accounting for only 0.6 percent and 2.7 percent respectively, leaving a very great room for further growth.

In addition, China is applying itself to the construction of a resource-saving and environmental friendly harmonious society, which provides an opportunity for Spain that has advantages in environment, agricultural science and technology and other fields.

Although there exist some frictions in trade between China and Spain, the high levels and trade circles of the two countries have reached consensuses: The frictions should not be allowed to affect the general situation of cooperation. The two countries are strongly complementary in economy and have a wide area for cooperation, so it is entirely possible for them to make a big "cake" and achieve a win-win result.

Both China and Spain advocate multilateralism. After Madrid was hit by terror blast in March 11 last year, the anti-war Worker Social Party won victory in the general election. Prime Minister Zapatero kept his election campaign promise after he came to power by withdrawing all Spanish troops from Iraq. After the blast of bomb occurred in London this year, Spain and Turkey jointly proposed the establishment of a "civilized union" in Western countries and Islamic society, which won support from the United Nations.

We have every reason to expect a complete success in President Hu Jintao's visit to Spain; we have every reason to believe that China-Spain cooperation will advance to a new stage and a new world will emerge after President Hu Jintao's Spain trip.

This article is carried on the front page of People's Daily Overseas Edition and translated by People's Daily Online