Senior Chinese leader Jia Qinglin met in Beijing Wednesday with Iceland parliament speaker Halldor Blondal. The two sides pledged to further exchange and cooperation to improve bilateral ties.

Jia, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China's top political advisory body, told Blondal that China is satisfied with the fast and comprehensive development of the bilateral relations.

The mutual political trust between China and Iceland has been strengthened with frequent high-level visits and the growth of economic and trade cooperation was also cheering, Jia said.

He said the CPPCC is willing to improve exchange and cooperation with the Althing Of Iceland, or Iceland's parliament, to jointly promote the friendship between the two countries and the two peoples.

Blondal said the cooperation between Iceland and China in the fields of politics, economy, trade, justice and culture has produced fruitful results and the parliament of Iceland is ready to further improve exchange with the Chinese side.

Blondal paid the visit to China at the invitation of Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, or China's parliament.

(Xinhua News Agency January 13, 2005)