China's top lawmakers convened here Tuesday to deliberate a bill to ratify an extradition treaty with Namibia.

"With the rapid growth of bilateral relations, China and Namibia agree on the need to intensify judicial cooperation", Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said at the 27th session of the Standing Committee of the 10th National People's Congress (NPC).

"Namibia proposed an extradition treaty in 2002, and we have made a positive response", Wu added.

The treaty, signed in December 2005 in Beijing, covered issues such as the reliability of extradition procedures, the types of criminals that can and should be extradited, costs, dispute resolution mechanisms and how amendments should be made.

The two sides also agreed on regulations on procedures to enact and terminate the treaty.

China and Namibia share a strong traditional friendship and the two sides have seen a boom in bilateral cooperation in political, economic, cultural, diplomatic and military fields, Wu told the Chinese legislators.

The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee, the NPC executive arm in charge of foreign affairs, suggested the NPC Standing Committee ratify the treaty.

Source: Xinhua