Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Liang Guanglie and his Romanian counterpart Eugen Badalan on Thursday agreed to further enhance the friendly exchanges and cooperation between the two sides.  

In their talks, Liang said since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Romania steadily advanced their ties despite changes of domestic and international situation.

The two sides kept frequent high-level exchanges and their mutual trust and friendship have been continuously strengthened, he added.

Liang said the development of Sino-Romanian military friendly relations tallies with the fundamental interest of the two peoples and also contributes to the overall advancement of bilateral ties.

The Chinese armed forces value its friendly ties with the Romanian army, and hold positive attitude toward pushing forward their friendly cooperative ties, he said. "The two sides enjoy great potential and broad prospects for cooperation."

Badalan said the two countries enjoy traditional friendship, and the Romania-China friendly relations have maintained stable development.

"Romania is willing to further boost its friendly cooperation with China including the military cooperation," he said.

Badalan arrived in Beijing on Monday morning for a six-day official visit as guest of Liang.

Before the talks, Liang held a welcome ceremony for Badalan's tour.

(Xinhua News Agency July 15, 2005)