President Hu Jintao said in Bucharest Monday that China is willing to further develop relations with the Central and Eastern European nations on the basis of mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation.

Hu, who arrived in Romania last Saturday for a three-day state visit, made the remarks in a speech at the parliament.

As some Central and Eastern European countries joined the European Union (EU) recently, China has more friends in the organization, which becomes a new cooperation platform between the two sides, Hu added.

To fully push forward bilateral relations and cooperation, Hu put forward a four-point proposal in his speech at the parliament.

First, Hu proposed the two sides strengthen friendly exchanges and enhance political trust.

The sides should build mutual understanding, expand common ground and support each other's political concerns based on the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit, and non-interference in each other's internal affairs, Hu said.

Second, He proposed the two sides expand economic and trade cooperation to promote common development.

Hu said the two sides should increase investment and have more technical collaboration on the basis of mutual benefit.

To solve the issue of trade imbalance, the barriers hindering the further cooperation should be removed, Hu stressed, urging the Central and Eastern European countries to become more active in the trade and economic cooperation between China and Europe.

Third, Hu said more exchanges in culture, education, science and technology, tourism and mass media should be conducted to consolidate the social basis in the relations between China and the Central and Eastern European countries.

Fourth, the Chinese president said the two sides need to strengthen cooperation in anti-terrorism, non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, the fight against cross-border crimes and in

bringing the UN to its full play, so as to maintain peace and stability in the world.

Romania is the third leg of Hu's four-nation trip following Poland and Hungary, which will also take him to Uzbekistan, where he will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization scheduled for June 17.

China and Romania established diplomatic ties in October 1949. Last year, the trade volume between the two countries stood at US$976 million. 

(Xinhua News Agency June 15, 2004)