Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a courtesy call on
Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery on Wednesday and both
voiced satisfaction with the development of cooperative relations
between the two countries.
Jeffery said President Hu's visit to Australia is an honor both
for the country and the Australian people and is of historic
significance.
Hu arrived in Sydne earlier in the day for a three-day state
visit to Australia.
Australia is pleased with the progress that has been made in
cooperation between the two countries in the political and economic
fields and personnel exchanges, Jeffery said. He offered his
country's congratulations on the successful launch of China's first
manned space flight.
Hu spoke highly of the all-round relations of cooperation
between
China and Australia. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides,
the Sino-Australian ties have been developing well and there have
been frequent exchanges of visits by top-level officials of the two
countries.
Bilateral economic and technological cooperation has steadily
expanded, and two-way trade exceeded 10 billion US dollars last
year, a 120-fold increase over 30 years ago when the two countries
established diplomatic relations, the Chinese president said. The
strategic cooperation in the energy sector between the two
countries has also witnessed a good start, Hu added.
Hu said that during his visit, he will meet Australian leaders
as well as public figures from all walks of life in Australia to
have wide-ranging discussions on ways to further expand mutually
beneficial cooperation so as to give a fresh impetus to the
development of bilateral ties.
The two leaders also exchanged views on issues related to the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and other issues of
common concern.
(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2003)