Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress, highly praised the Sino-Russian relations and called on both sides to enhance inter-parliamentary communication in Moscow Monday.

After separate meetings with Speaker of the Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Sergei Mironov and Speaker of the State Duma (lower house of parliament) Boris Gryzlov, Wu pointed out that the Sino-Russian relationship has developed into a most stable and energetic nation-to-nation relation thanks to the joint efforts over the past decade or so.

The visiting Chinese top legislator reiterated that China attaches great importance to the bilateral ties, stressing that China regards Russia as its main strategic partner and the development of bilateral relations is a strategic priority in China's foreign policy.

Wu, who arrived in Russia on Saturday for a seven-day official good-will visit aimed at promoting comprehensive development of the Sino-Russian strategic partnership of cooperation, suggested that the two countries should maintain their high-level interaction and support each other on key issues concerning state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Chinese chief legislator added that both sides should promote the bilateral economic and trade cooperation and try to make breakthrough in the field.

Wu also called on the two neighboring states to keep harmony in dealing with international issues and strengthen cooperation in the Untied Nations and some other international and regional organizations in order to promote the establishment of a just and fair new politic and economic world order.

Talking about the inter-parliamentary relations, Wu expressed the willingness to make joint efforts with the Russian Federation Council and the State Duma in enhancing communication and cooperation, saying it would promote mutual understanding among the people of the two states and boost regional communication and collaboration.

Wu proposed to maintain the good momentum of high-level inter-parliamentary interaction between China and Russia and to carry out comprehensive communication and intensify such efforts in the legislative and supervision work. Wu also called on the parliaments of both sides to help boost the development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation.

Expressing their full consent to Wu's assessment of bilateral ties and his proposals for advancing inter-parliamentary communication, Mironov and Gryzlov expressed the willingness to reinforce comprehensive exchanges and cooperation with the Chinese National People's Congress and to push forward the development of Sino-Russian strategic partnership.

Mironov vowed to increase bilateral economic and trade cooperation and promote regional communication including in the two neighbors' bordering areas.

(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2004)