Visiting Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo and Raul Castro, second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and president of the Council of State of Cuba, both voiced firm commitment on Wednesday to promote the Sino-Cuban bilateral relations to a higher level.

China always highly values its friendly and cooperative relations with Cuba, is satisfied with the current status of development of such relationship, and is fully confident in the broad prospects for future bilateral cooperation, Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, told Castro during a meeting in Havana.

Wu stressed that a long-term friendly relationship between China and Cuba is not only in the interests of the two nations as well as the two peoples, but also is conducive to promoting world peace and prosperity.

China will make concerted efforts with the Cuban side to push forward their cooperation in fields such as politics, economy, and people-to-people exchanges, Wu added.

Wu, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, spoke highly of the China-Latin America ties, saying the bilateral relations are at their historical best and the two sides should explore new fields and create new patterns for further cooperation.

China is willing to work with Latin American countries to further enrich their cooperation and establish a comprehensive and cooperative partnership featured with equality, mutual benefit and common prosperity, the Chinese top legislator noted.

Castro said that both as socialist countries, China and Cuba could share their experience in national development, adding that China's success in the regard is very worthy for Cuba to learn from.

With its development, China is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs, and has become a major force for boosting world peace and stability, said the Cuban leader.

The Cuban government and its people treasure the Cuban-Chinese friendship and will further its efforts for bilateral cooperation in a bid to pass on the friendship from generation to generation, he said.

The two leaders also exchanged views and reached broad consensus on a host of major international and regional issues.

At the invitation of President of the Cuban National Assembly of People's Power, Ricardo Alarcon de Quesada, Wu arrived in Havana on Tuesday.

Cuba is the first leg of Wu's three-nation American tour which will also take him to the Bahamas and the United States.

(Xinhua News Agency September 3, 2009)