President Jiang Zemin said yesterday that China attaches great importance to its economic relations with Venezuela and is willing to cooperate with the Latin-American nation in various fields on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

In talks with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias, Jiang said that China holds a positive attitude towards formulating a 10-year plan of cooperation between the two countries.

He said relevant government departments are studying the two countries' cooperation in the agriculture and energy sectors.

Jiang said that during his visit to Venezuela in April, the two countries signed eight agreements of cooperation covering political, economic, and technological areas. The two sides reached a consensus on the development of bilateral relations and defined the two countries' strategic partnership for common development in the new century, he said.

The two countries plan to set up a high-level committee, which will soon hold its first meeting, to explore the overall development of bilateral relations.

The follow-up actions by both sides demonstrate their strong desire to strengthen friendly cooperation, Jiang said.

Economic cooperation has been progressing well, he said, adding that bilateral trade reached a high of US$351 million last year, up 86 percent from the previous year.

Venezuela has become the biggest target country of Chinese investment in the Latin-America region, Jiang said.

On the international situation, Jiang said that the process of multi-polarization will be long and tortuous, but it is an irreversible historical trend, he said.

While globalization has promoted world economic development, it has also further widened the gap between the rich and the poor around the world, Jiang said.

The international community now faces the issue of how to bridge the gap and realize balanced development, Jiang said.

He said that China, Venezuela and other developing countries are faced with the common task of peace and development. He said that it is important for the Chinese and Venezuelan people to carry out cooperation in the economic and technological areas in a step-by-step manner.

Chavez said Jiang's visit to his country in April was a success, which shows both countries attach great importance to their relationship.

After the talks, the two heads of state attended the signing ceremony of six documents on bilateral cooperation in the fields of agriculture, energy, science and technology, information, and gold mining.

(Xinhua 05/25/2001)