Some 20 legislators from China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) on Sunday concluded their second meeting under a regular parliamentary exchange mechanism established in January 1, 2006.

Uyunqimg, vice chairwoman of the NPC Standing Committee, and Deputy Speaker of ROK National Assembly Lee Yong Hee co-chaired the half-day meeting in Beijing.

The first meeting under the mechanism was held in Seoul last September.

During the meeting, legislators hailed the progress of China-ROK ties in recent years and said Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to the ROK in early April helped to advance the China-ROK all-round partnership of cooperation.

They stressed parliamentary exchanges have played an important role in promoting bilateral ties.

They agreed to stick to the regular exchange mechanism as it provided a platform for the two legislative bodies to enhance friendship and build trust.

Trade relations were also discussed. Chinese legislators said China has been making efforts to achieve the goal of raising bilateral trade to 200 billion U.S. dollars by 2012. The target was set by Chinese President Hu Jintao and ROK President Roh Moon-hyun.

They said China would like to step up cooperation with the ROK on environmental protection, energy preservation, communications, logistics and high-technologies.

China expects the ROK to take effective measures to ease the trade imbalance.

Legislators of the two countries also briefed each other on their domestic social and economic situations.

The 11-member ROK delegation arrived in Beijing on Thursday. During their stay in Beijing, top Chinese legislator Wu Banguo and State Councilor Tang Jiaxuan met with them separately.

The ROK delegation left Beijing Sunday for Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province for a short visit. They are expected to wind up their China trip on Monday.

Source: Xinhua