The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Syrian Baath Arab Socialist Party (SBASP) vowed to promote the exchanges on the governance and administrative management on Wednesday.

Li Changchun, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held talks respectively with Abdullah al-Ahmar, assistant secretary general of the SBASP National Leadership, and Mohammed Saeid AlBekheitan, assistant secretary of the SBASP regional leadership.

Li said Chinese President Hu Jintao and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad had reached agreement on furthering friendship in 2004, which was guiding the cooperation between the two countries.

He noted China and Syria had deepened the political trust, expanded the cooperation on trade, science, culture and public health, and maintained the consultation in the international and regional affairs. This conformed to the fundamental interest of the two peoples and would help safeguard the interest of the developing nations and benefit world peace and stability.

Li said both CPC and the SBASP are ruling parties, and share the common tasks of safeguarding national independence and improving the people's living standard.

The two Syrian leaders expressed the willingness to further the party-to-party relations with the CPC. They both said Syria would stand with China on the Tibet issue and oppose any country to make excuse to interfere in China's internal affairs.

Also on Wednesday, Li met with Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otri. Li said China and Syria are friendly nations, and currently the trade cooperation had expanded, and China had become the largest trading partner of Syria.

Li hoped to cement political trust and trade cooperation, as well as the international consultation with Syria.

Otri said China is an influential country of the world, and it is of strategic meaning to develop the reciprocal cooperation with China, adding that Syria hoped to share with China the opportunity of development.

After the meeting, Li and Otri witnessed the signing of the economic and technological cooperation document.

Syria is the last leg of Li's five-nation tour which has taken to Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia. He will go back to China Thursday afternoon.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2008)