Gu Xiulian, vice-chairwoman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), is ending a three-day visit to Guyana on Wednesday after holding talks with Guyanese leaders on ways of furthering the bilateral friendship.
During the visit, Gu met separately with President Bharrat Jagdeo, Prime Minister Samuel Hinds and Speaker of the National Assembly Ralph Ramkarran. She also addressed the National Assembly.
The two sides reviewed the development of bilateral relations in the past 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties and spoke highly of the traditional friendship between the two peoples, according to Chinese sources from Georgetown.
Both sides agreed that the Sino-Guyanese relationship has entered a new period of all-round and stable development, with frequent high-level contacts and deepening mutual understanding and trust. Exchanges and cooperation in various fields are expanding and the two countries have always offered mutual support and closely coordinated with each other in international affairs.
Gu said China attaches great importance to the development of relations with Caribbean nations, including Guyana, and is ready to work actively for the establishment of a dialogue mechanism with the Caribbean Community to promote mutually-beneficial cooperation.
The Guyanese leaders said they value their country's friendly relations and cooperation with China. Upholding the one-China principle, they stressed, is an important state policy of their country.
Guyana's adherence to the policy is based on respect for China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, they added.
Gu expressed China's appreciation for Guyana's steadfast adherence to the one-China principle.
The two sides also agreed to maintain and expand the friendly exchanges between their two countries' parliament leaders and various specialized committees of the two legislative bodies.
Gu is currently on a four-nation tour including Dominica, Grenada, Guyana and Argentina on July 4-18.
(Xinhua News Agency July 12, 2007)
