Chinese President Hu Jintao
held talks in Beijing Monday with visiting Mongolian President
Nachagyn Bagabandy, and they agreed to put first emphasis on some
important areas to enhance the overall economic and trade
cooperation.
"Resources exploration and infrastructure cooperation should
beat the top of the agenda, and the projects agreed by the two
sides should be initiated at an early date," Hu told Bagabandy, who
is paying a six-day state visit to China.
The two countries also signed two documents Monday on trade and
banking cooperation, as well as an agreement on offering economic
aid to Mongolia after the talks. A diplomat on the scene said that
the signing of the documents can be taken as an actual step to
realize the consensus reached last June by the two heads of state
when Hu paid his first state visit to Mongolia.
During that visit, the two heads of state had agreed to further
cooperation on finance, infrastructure, and sandstorm prevention.
Hu had put forward a four-point proposal to promote Sino-Mongolian
relations, including conducting economic and trade cooperation of
reciprocity.
The two countries also had established the good-neighborly
partnership of mutual trust during Hu's trip.
During Monday's talks, Hu reaffirmed the main content of his
proposal, as well as the importance of economic and trade
cooperation, saying that it has witnessed remarkable results.
Bagabandy spoke highly of Hu's view on developing the bilateral
cooperation, pledging to follow the principles of the joint
documents to further the cooperation in the economic field and
resources exploration, as well as in the other areas.
In fact, pushing forward economic cooperation is one of the
purposes of Bagabandy's China trip. Minister in charge of finance
and economy, president of the Mongolian bank, and other senior
trade officials are among his 72-member entourage.
Bagabandy told the press that the two countries still have great
potential for increasing economic and trade cooperation, and how to
dig out more cooperative areas should be the top concern of the two
governments.
According to statistics, the trade volume between China and
Mongolia hit US$440 million in 2003, up 21 percent over the
previous year. The statistics also show that Mongolia's trade
volume with China has taken only a quite small proportion in
China's trade volumes with the other neighboring countries, such as
Pakistan, and the Republic of Korea.
The two neighbors also signed a document Monday on border
management. China and Mongolia share a 4,600-kilometer-long border,
which has long remained "peaceful and secure" over the past 41
years after the demarcation work had completed in 1963.
The current visit is Bagabandy's third China tour. Before coming
to Beijing, he visited south China's Hainan Province and Macao
Special Administrative Region. In Macao, he attended a ceremony of
signing an agreement on visa exemption.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the amendment of a
treaty on friendly cooperation between China and Mongolia, as well
as the 55th anniversary of Sino-Mongolian diplomatic ties.
Both Hu and Bagabandy pledged to further the good-neighborly
partnership of mutual trust to bring happiness to the two peoples
and to be conducive to the regional peace and stability.
(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2004)