Chinese, Venezuelan Presidents Hold TalksChinese President Jiang Zemin said Thursday that China attaches importance to its economic relations with Venezuela and is willing to cooperate with Venezuela in various areas on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.In talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias, Jiang said that China holds a positive attitude towards formulating a ten-year plan of cooperation between the two countries. He said relevant departments are studying the two countries' cooperation in agriculture and energy. Jiang said that during his visit to Venezuela in April, the two countries signed eight agreements of cooperation covering political, economic and trade and science and technological areas. The two sides reached a consensus on the development of bilateral relations and defined the two countries' strategic partnership for common development in the new century, he said. He said that the two countries will set up a high-level mixed committee, which will soon hold its first meeting to explore the overall development of bilateral relations. The active follow-up actions in only more than a month by both sides have demonstrated their strong desire to strengthen their friendly cooperation, Jiang said. Jiang said that bilateral trade and economic cooperation have been progressing well, adding that bilateral trade reached 351 million U.S. dollars last year, up 86 percent from the previous year. The figure set a new record, he said. Venezuela has become the biggest target country of Chinese investment in the Latin-America region, Jiang added. The Chinese government attaches importance to its economic and trade relations with Venezuela and is willing to conduct multi- channel cooperation in various forms with Venezuela on the basis of equality and mutual benefit, Jiang said. On the international situation, Jiang said that the process of multi-polarization will be a tortuous and long one, but it is an irreversible historical trend, he said. While globalization has promoted world economic development, it has also further widened the gap between the rich and the poor worldwide, Jiang said. The international community now faces the issue of how to reduce the gap and realize balanced development, Jiang said. He said that China, Venezuela and other developing countries are faced with the common task of peace and development. He said that it is important for the Chinese and Venezuelan people to carry out cooperation in the economic and trade, science and technological areas in a down-to-earth manner and step by step. Chavez said Jiang's visit to his country in April was a success, which shows both countries attach great importance to their relations of friend cooperation. The agreements signed between the two sides also show their relations are being strengthened, he said. Prior to the talks, Jiang hosted a welcome ceremony for Chavez. After the talks, the two heads of state attended the signing ceremony of six documents on bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, energy, science and technology, information, and gold mining. |
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