The China-Vietnam friendship is the precious treasure of the two parties and the two peoples, he stressed in a joint interview with Nhan Dan (People's Daily), Vietnam News Agency and Vietnam Television.

To strengthen cooperation between the two parties and the two countries is not only beneficial to their respective socialist course and their economic prosperity, but also conducive to peace in Asia and the world and the human progress, he stressed.

Hu, Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC), is leading a CPC delegation here to attend the just-concluded 9th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV).

He noted that he felt honored to head the CPC delegation for the congress at the start of a new century, which he termed as an important conference of wisdom, unity and victory that summarized the past and ushered in the future.

Expressing his congratulations for the success of the congress, he said the congress designated the orientations and tasks of the socio-economic development at the start of the new century and elected a new central committee of the CPV.

From the blueprint set at the congress, he noted, China sees the firm determination and a bright future of the Vietnamese party, government and people to build socialism.

China is convinced that under the CPV leadership headed by Nong Duc Manh, the Vietnamese people will surely follow the policies set at the congress and work even harder to build their country into a rich, strong, fair, democratic, civilized yet industrialized society, he said.

Terming the CPV as a strong leadership core for Vietnam's revolution and construction, Hu said the CPV has stuck to the socialist road, scored remarkable achievements in its socialist development and explored a way that complies with its own circumstances.

China believes that the CPV will better play its leadership role and lead its people to realize their goals, Hu added.

Since the normalization of relations between the two nations, he said, both sides have worked to get the relations between the two parties, governments and peoples fully restored and swiftly developed.

He said top level leaders frequently exchanged visits, while contacts and cooperation are increasingly expanded and deepened in the political, economic, military, scientific, technological and cultural fields.

Under the principle of building the long-term, stable, future- oriented, good-neighborly and all-round cooperative relations for the 21st century, Hu said, the two countries have signed several important agreements, such as the land boundary treaty, the agreement on the demarcation in the Beibu Gulf, and the agreement on fishery cooperation, which comply with the countries' long-term interests and the people's aspiration.

The two parties and the two nations have undertaken extensive yet in-depth exchanges of experiences in rectifying the party and administering the country, while bilateral economic and trade cooperation has been pushed onto a new stage, he said.

All these have laid a solid foundation, given new impetus and created better conditions for the century-oriented good-neighborly friendly relations of all-round cooperation, he stressed.

(People's Daily 04/23/2001)