Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese
National People's Congress (NPC),
met with Irkutsk regional governor Boris Govorin on Sunday in
eastern Siberia before traveling on to Moscow. Wu is on a seven-day
official goodwill visit to Russia.
Wu noted in his meeting with Govorin that Irkutsk and China have
enjoyed fruitful cooperation in the past as well as in more recent
years, providing a good foundation for broadening and deepening
cooperation.
He said the Chinese government is giving close attention to
strengthening Sino-Russian regional exchanges and cooperation. He
pointed out that the two sides have strong prospects for enhancing
cooperation in the areas of energy resources and timber
processing.
Both countries share a strong desire to strengthen trade and
economic ties, said Wu, and he hopes that they can put that desire
into practice as quickly as possible by encouraging their large
enterprises to participate in mutually beneficial, long-term,
strategic and large-scale projects.
He called on both nations to take full advantage of the
bilateral harmonizing mechanism to resolve current problems in
trade contacts and bring the bilateral trade and economic
interaction to a new level.
Govorin replied that Irkutsk values its cooperation with China,
and that Wu's visit would boost regional trade and economic
cooperation between their two countries.
The governor vowed to promote long-term and effective
cooperation with China in the fields of oil, natural gas and
electricity.
During his stay in Moscow, Wu will meet with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Federation Council (upper house of
parliament) Sergei Mironov and Chairman of the State Duma (lower
house) Boris Gryzlov in separate talks to promote better
understanding and explore ways of enhancing bilateral
cooperation.
Russia is the first leg of Wu's four-nation European tour, which
will also take him to Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway.
(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2004)