NPC Chairman Meets Belarussian PresidentChairman Li Peng of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC) met with Alexander Grigorievich Lukashenko, president of the Republic of Belarus, Monday.Li expressed gladness over meeting the President once again in Beijing and also recalled his visit to Belarus last September. He wished the President a successful visit in advance and expressed the belief his visit would further push forward the existing good cooperative relations. Since the forging of diplomatic relations, bilateral ties have witnessed healthy and steady growth, Li said, adding that this is not only based on the traditional friendship between the two peoples, but also the pragmatic needs and common interests of both sides. Both China and Belarus advocate multi-polarism and believe that globalization brings not just development opportunities but also serious challenges, he said, expressing the hope both sides would increase cooperation in such fields as economy, trade, science, technology, and education. Li also gave a positive evaluation of contacts between the NPC and the Belarussian parliament and asked the President to convey his kind regards to speakers of both the upper and lower chambers of the Belarussian National Assembly and his invitation for visits. President Lukashenko described China as a sincere friend of Belarus, expressing the hope bilateral ties, especially economic and trade cooperation, would further advance on the present basis. He said Belarus and China share the same views on many important world issues and both believe that all countries, big or small, strong or weak, should be totally equal. They are also unanimous on human rights issues and both hold that every country has its own right to choose its development road, he added. Lukashenko also voiced the expectation that China's economy would witness a continuous growth. President Lukashenko arrived in Beijing Sunday night for a three-day state visit at the invitation of President Jiang Zemin. |
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