Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Dimitris Sioufas, president of Parliament of Greece, on Tuesday.

The friendly and cooperative ties between China and Greece have brought concrete benefits to the two peoples, said Hu, who is on a state visit to Greece.

The two sides have reached broad consensus during the visit, Hu said, adding that China is willing to implement the consensus along with the Greek side.

The Chinese president also hoped the legislatures of the two countries could continue to carry out various forms of exchanges at different levels in an effort to contribute more to the deepening of bilateral ties.

China and Greece are both countries with ancient civilizations, a long history and brilliant cultures, and the two peoples have forged deep friendship during the long-standing intercourse, he said.

Sioufas said Greece hopes to lift the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership to a new high and the Greek parliament will maintain high-level exchanges with China's National People's Congress.

Greece and China were birthplaces of Western and Eastern civilizations, respectively, he said. "We both have such great philosophers as Socrates and Confucius," he said.

Hu flew to Athens on Monday for a state visit to Greece, the last leg of his five-nation trip. He has already attended a financial summit in Washington and the Economic Leaders' Informal Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Lima. He also has paid state visits to Costa Rica, Cuba and Peru.

(Xinhua News Agency November 26, 2008)