Hu Jintao, general secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese president, met Wednesday evening in Da Nang with Nguyen Ba Thanh, secretary of the Da Nang City Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

During the meeting, Hu spoke highly of the city's achievements and said he hoped that different localities of the two countries will strengthen exchanges and cooperation for common development.

Thanh said the city will learn from China's experiences and welcome Chinese investment in the city.

Hu arrived in this central city of Vietnam Wednesday afternoon on a state visit to Vietnam as guest of General Secretary of the CPV Central Committee Nong Duc Manh and President Nguyen Minh Triet.

Hu is also scheduled to attend the 14th APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting from Nov. 17 to 19 in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.

In a written statement delivered upon arrival at the airport, Hu said that the Chinese side is delighted to see Vietnam's achievements under CPV's leadership.

He said the Chinese side is convinced that the Vietnamese people will build Vietnam into a modern socialist industrialized country under the CPV's leadership.

Hu reviewed the traditional friendship between the two peoples as the two countries are friendly neighbors sharing mountains and waters.

He said there have been continuous and important new progresses made in the new century in Sino-Vietnamese relations under the guidance of the principles of long-term stability, future- orientation, goodneighborly friendship and overall cooperation.

Meanwhile, bilateral friendly exchanges and cooperation have been furthered, and the two countries and their peoples have become good neighbors, friends, comrades and partners, noted Hu.

He said he is looking forward to exchanging views with Vietnamese leaders on the relations between the two parties and the two countries, as well as international and regional issues of common concern.

He said this visit will help promote bilateral traditional friendship and cooperation in various fields, and the development of bilateral goodneighborly friendship and overall cooperation.

Vietnam is the first leg of Hu's four-nation tour, which will also take him to the Laos, India and Pakistan.

Chinese statistics show that Sino-Vietnamese trade volume last year reached over 8 billion U.S. dollars, and the figure in 2006 is expected to exceed 10 billion U.S. dollars.

Source: Xinhua