Visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Latvian counterpart yesterday pledged to consolidate bilateral relations by enhancing mutual understanding and promoting reciprocal cooperation.
Jiang flew into the Latvian capital and port city of Riga yesterday to kick off his three-day state visit to the Baltic country.
It is the first visit by a Chinese head of state to Latvia since China and Latvia established diplomatic ties in September 1991.
In a written statement issued on his arrival, Jiang said he expects to explore with the Latvian side new ways of pushing China-Latvia friendly relations and cooperation towards comprehensive development on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Jiang told Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga that the two countries can deepen their friendly and cooperative relations by respecting each other's social system, cultural tradition and ideology.
Jiang noted that Latvia is a main channel of the Asia-Europe Transcontinental Bridge and said China is interested in cooperating with the country in trade and transportation.
Vike-Freiberga said Latvia is willing to expand cooperation with China, particularly in information technology and transportation.
Bilateral trade reached US$52.7 million last year, an increase of 79 per cent compared to 2000.
Both presidents said that their countries' bilateral relations are based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and national dignity and non-interference in the other country's internal affairs.
(China Daily June 11, 2002)
