President Hu Jintao met with Chairman of the Upper House of
Indian Parliament Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Speaker of House of
the People Somnath Chatterjee respectively on Tuesday.
Hu said exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Indian
legislatures played an important role in bilateral relations and
acted as a major channel in improving friendship and cooperation
between the two peoples.
In the past few years, China's National People's Congress (NPC)
had carried out active and diversified exchanges with India's House
of the People, including setting up a mechanism of regular
exchanges, which had greatly improved mutual understanding, he
said.
Hu expressed the hope that the legislatures of the two
countries, from central to local levels, would keep expanding their
exchanges and cooperation.
Shekhawat and Chatterjee told Hu that India-China relations
would move forward with close cooperation in political, economic
and cultural sectors, as well as with exchanges of people,
especially youth.
They said exchanges between Indian and Chinese legislatures had
contributed a lot to the improvement of bilateral ties and that the
Indian Parliament would like to enhance dialogue with the NPC.
Hu arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening on a state visit as
guest of Indian President Abdul Kalam. This is the first visit to
India by a Chinese head of state in 10 years.
India is the third leg of Hu's four-nation tour, which has
already taken him to Vietnam and Laos, and will also take him to
Pakistan.
He also attended the 14th APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation) Economic Leaders' Meeting from November 17 to 19 in
Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.
(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2006)
