Vice President Meets Vietnamese Guests

Hu Jintao Meets Vietnamese Guest

---

Chinese Vice President Hu Jintao met Monday with a Vietnamese delegation led by Nguyen Phu Trong, a politburo member of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and secretary of the Hanoi municipal party committee.

With the concerted efforts of the two sides, China and Vietnam have established a friendly relationship in recent years. The Communist Party of China (CPC) and the CPV have also expanded their overall cooperation and exchange, said Hu, who is also a member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee.

The friendship between the two countries and the two parties is cherished by the two peoples. The CPC and the Chinese government attach great importance to the further development of such a bond, Hu said.

He said he hopes the two sides would enhance the relationship to make it even stronger.

During his visit to Vietnam, while attending the ninth national congress of the CPV, Hu was deeply impressed by the great achievements made by the CPV and the Vietnamese people in the process of socialist construction and reform and open-up, he said.

He said he believes the Vietnamese people, led by the CPV central committee, could achieve new goals in the future.

Nguyen Phu Trong said that the Vietnamese people admired the Chinese for their outstanding accomplishments in modernization.

In line with principles set by leaders of the two sides, the two parties and the two countries should further their friendly relations, he said.

Since Hanoi and Beijing became sister cities in 1994, they have enhanced bilateral exchange and cooperation, which also deepen the two countries' friendship, he said.

Jia Qinglin, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the CPC, was present at the meeting.