Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), met with Irkutsk regional governor Boris Govorin on Sunday in eastern Siberia before traveling on to Moscow. Wu is on a seven-day official goodwill visit to Russia.

Wu noted in his meeting with Govorin that Irkutsk and China have enjoyed fruitful cooperation in the past as well as in more recent years, providing a good foundation for broadening and deepening cooperation.

He said the Chinese government is giving close attention to strengthening Sino-Russian regional exchanges and cooperation. He pointed out that the two sides have strong prospects for enhancing cooperation in the areas of energy resources and timber processing.

Both countries share a strong desire to strengthen trade and economic ties, said Wu, and he hopes that they can put that desire into practice as quickly as possible by encouraging their large enterprises to participate in mutually beneficial, long-term, strategic and large-scale projects.

He called on both nations to take full advantage of the bilateral harmonizing mechanism to resolve current problems in trade contacts and bring the bilateral trade and economic interaction to a new level.

Govorin replied that Irkutsk values its cooperation with China, and that Wu's visit would boost regional trade and economic cooperation between their two countries.

The governor vowed to promote long-term and effective cooperation with China in the fields of oil, natural gas and electricity.

During his stay in Moscow, Wu will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chairman of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Sergei Mironov and Chairman of the State Duma (lower house) Boris Gryzlov in separate talks to promote better understanding and explore ways of enhancing bilateral cooperation.

Russia is the first leg of Wu's four-nation European tour, which will also take him to Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway.

(Xinhua News Agency May 24, 2004)