Chinese President Hu Jintao and Hungarian President Madl Ferenc signed in Budapest on Thursday a joint statement, pledging to build friendly and cooperative partnership between their countries.  

Hu and Madl agreed that the signing of the statement will lay a new solid foundation for further expanding mutually-beneficial cooperation between the two sides, according to a press release from the Chinese delegation.

"This is an important document that will guide the development of future Sino-Hungarian relations," the press release said.

Hungary reiterated its adherence to the one-China policy and said it will not have any official contacts with the Taiwanese authorities, according to the statement.

Hu arrived here Thursday for a two-day state visit to Hungary, the first by a Chinese head of state since Hungary became a member of the European Union in May.

Hungary is the second leg of Hu's four-nation tour following Poland. He will also visit Romania and Uzbekistan before attending a summit meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Tashkent, scheduled to begin on June 17.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2004)