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)