The National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature, actively supports the development of economic and trade cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo said in Beijing Tuesday.

 

Wu made the remarks during his meeting with King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. After the meeting, the king left Beijing at the end of his China tour.

 

Wu said China and Saudi Arabia have been friends for a long, long time, and the friendly relations between the people of the two countries play a vital role in promoting exchanges between Oriental and Western civilization.

 

As developing countries and major powers in Asia, both China and Saudi Arabia are devoted to domestic economic growth and external peace keeping. The two countries hold similar stances on many important issues and share a wide range of common interests, Wu noted.

 

The two countries are strongly complementary in terms of their economies and have broad prospects for economic cooperation, Wu acknowledged, saying that the NPC actively supports the mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia in economy and trade.

 

Wu said the NPC is ready to further beef up its exchanges with the Saudi Consultative Council, in an effort to enhance the friendly relations between the two countries and their people.

 

Abdullah said Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to its relations with China, and is satisfied with the current sound development of bilateral relations.

 

This visit will help the two sides deepen the exchange of high-level visits, increase mutual understanding, broaden consensus and spur substantial cooperation, the king said, expressing the conviction that joint efforts by both countries would lead to further progress in bilateral relations to the benefit of the two peoples.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 25, 2006)