President Hu Jintao met with Chairman of the Upper House of Indian Parliament Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and Speaker of House of the People Somnath Chatterjee respectively on Tuesday.

 

Hu said exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and Indian legislatures played an important role in bilateral relations and acted as a major channel in improving friendship and cooperation between the two peoples.

 

In the past few years, China's National People's Congress (NPC) had carried out active and diversified exchanges with India's House of the People, including setting up a mechanism of regular exchanges, which had greatly improved mutual understanding, he said.

 

Hu expressed the hope that the legislatures of the two countries, from central to local levels, would keep expanding their exchanges and cooperation.

 

Shekhawat and Chatterjee told Hu that India-China relations would move forward with close cooperation in political, economic and cultural sectors, as well as with exchanges of people, especially youth.

 

They said exchanges between Indian and Chinese legislatures had contributed a lot to the improvement of bilateral ties and that the Indian Parliament would like to enhance dialogue with the NPC.

 

Hu arrived in New Delhi on Monday evening on a state visit as guest of Indian President Abdul Kalam. This is the first visit to India by a Chinese head of state in 10 years.

 

India is the third leg of Hu's four-nation tour, which has already taken him to Vietnam and Laos, and will also take him to Pakistan.

 

He also attended the 14th APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Economic Leaders' Meeting from November 17 to 19 in Hanoi, capital of Vietnam.

 

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2006)