China attaches great importance to its ties with Latin American countries and is willing to make unremitting efforts towards building a long-term and stable relationship of all-round cooperation and mutual benefit, Chinese top legislator Li Peng said Thursday in Buenos Aires.
Li, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, made the remarks at a meeting with his Argentine counterpart Mario Anibal Losada.
He spoke highly of the fact that Latin American countries have a well-coordinated common stance in handling major international issues, therefore making contributions to the world peace and development.
Li said that Argentina is one of China's important trade partners in Latin America, with two-way trade, which, having recorded a big increase for the past few years, reached 1.5 billion U.S. dollars last year.
He expressed the belief that China's upcoming entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Argentina's recovery from economic difficulties will surely boost Sino-Argentine trade and economic cooperation.
China attaches great importance to its relationship with Argentina, he added.
He said that China and Argentina share identical or similar views on many major international issues, committing themselves to safeguarding world peace and development. Both countries stand for the establishment of a fair and just international political and economic order.
Parliamentary exchange and cooperation, Li said, has been an important part of the Sino-Argentine friendly relationship of cooperation.
Li thanked the Argentine government and parliament for their One-China policy and support for China's membership application to the WTO.
Extending welcome to Li, Losada said Li's visit will undoubtedly lay a sound foundation for future cooperation of the two countries' parliaments.
(People?s Daily November 9, 2001)
