Chinese President Hu Jintao meets Singaporean Prime Minister
23/10/2008 16:05
Chinese President Hu Jintao met this morning at the Great Hall of the
People with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who is in Beijing to
attend the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to be held on Oct. 24 to 25.
Hu
congratulated Lee on the free trade agreement (FTA) between China and Singapore
signed earlier this morning, quoting the pact signals "the economic ties between
the two countries had entered a new stage".
He said China attached great
importance to Sino-Singaporean relations since the two countries established
diplomatic ties 18 years ago, and is willing to deepen mutually-benefiting
cooperation between the two sides and thus contribute to the stability and
development of Asia.
He said in face of the complicated global financial
situation, all nations in the world should coordinate with each other in policy
making and bridge over the difficulties with confidence.
He pledged that
China will make concerted efforts with the international community to maintain
global financial and economic stability with a responsible attitude, and to
sustain its domestic financial and economic stability by transforming the
economic growth pattern, restructuring the economy, and attaching more
importance to agriculture.
Lee Hsien Loong said the newly signed FTA pact
would further improve the bilateral ties between the two countries, and push
forward regional cooperation in East Asia.
He said the overall situation of
the Asian economy is still good, but urged Asian countries to strengthen
cooperation in the backdrop of the global financial crisis and take measures to
restore confidence in the financial market to contribute to global financial
stability.
Established as a high-level forum between governments of Asia and
Europe, the ASEM this year is expected to focus on how to respond to the current
global financial crisis, rather than the earlier planned topics like climate
change, sustainable development and energy security.
Launched in 1996 as an
informal dialogue mechanism, the ASEM now includes 45 members, representing more
than 50 percent of the world's gross domestic product.
Xinhua
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