Chinese top legislator meets European Parliament vice president

BEIJING, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang met with Vice President of the European Parliament Dimitrios Papadimoulis on Monday.

China attaches importance to its relations with the European Union (EU) and supports the European integration, said Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC).

China and the EU will mark the 15th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the China-EU leaders' meeting mechanism in 2018, Zhang noted.

He called on both sides to connect their development strategies, deepen their exchange and cooperation, and push for new progress in building the partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization.

China's NPC will strengthen exchanges with the European Parliament and make the most of the regular parliamentary exchange mechanism to increase political mutual trust, optimize the legal environment for economic and trade cooperation and consolidate the popular will for China-EU friendship, said Zhang.

Papadimoulis hailed the importance of the EU-China relations, saying bilateral friendship and cooperation is crucial for world peace and development.

The European Parliament will have more dialogue with China's NPC to reduce differences and boost mutual benefit and development. Enditem