Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with visiting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko in Beijing Monday, and they conferred on bilateral relations and international issues of common concern.

Chinese Foreign Ministry officials did not disclose details of the meeting.

Gryshchenko started his China visit last Friday at the invitation of Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing from China's biggest business hub Shanghai, where he spoke positively on the preparatory work for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai and signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding (MOU) with China, pledging that Ukraine would participate in the event.

At a meeting last Friday with Tang Dengjie, vice major of Shanghai, Gryshchenko said he believed that Shanghai would host a wonderful world expo, voicing the hope that the two countries could forge extensive cooperation in the fields of aircraft manufacturing, high technology and education.

According to the preliminary MOU, the two sides both agreed that Ukraine's participation in the 2010 World Expo would push forward the bilateral friendly ties and concretize bilateral cooperation in trade, social and cultural fields.

(Xinhua News Agency July 6, 2004)