Latvia President Vaira Vike-Freiberga said in Beijing Wednesday that China is Latvia's important cooperation partner in Asia and she hopes the economic ties with China could be further enhanced. 

The president addressed a Latvia-China business conference in the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT).

Latvia and China share huge economic complementarity and the political and economic ties had progressed "extremely well" in the last decade, she said.

Vike-Freiberga said that Latvia, which will be a full member of the European Union (EU) this May, could help Chinese enterprises to explore the markets of the EU and other European countries, including Russia.

Vice Chairman of CCPIT Zhang Wei said that Sino-Latvian trade increased with a high growth rate.

Sino-Latvian trade amounted to US$130 million last year, including US$110 million in Chinese exports and nearly US$20 million in imports, Zhang said.

Entrepreneurs from the two countries' ports, shipbuilding, information technology, logistics, heavy industry, food processing and tourism sectors attended the conference.

(Xinhua News Agency April 15, 2004)