WARSAW -?He Guoqiang, a senior official of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on Wednesday called for strengthening China-Poland cooperation during talks here with Grzegorz Schetyna, speaker of the Polish House of Representatives.

Poland is an important country in East Europe, with which China has long-standing friendship and cooperation, said He, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the CPC.

Recent years have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges and steady progress in economic, trade, social and cultural cooperation between the two countries, said He, adding that China is willing to work with Poland to constantly push their friendly partnership to new levels.

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Schetyna said Poland attaches great importance to its exchanges and cooperation with China and it is very important for Poland to strengthen cooperation with China.

Poland is willing to work together with China to intensify high-level exchanges between the two sides, including those between the Polish parliament and the National People's Congress of China, so as to lay a solid foundation for bilateral cooperation in all aspects.

In a separate meeting with Polish Vice Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak on the same day, He said the traditional friendly relationship between China and Poland has been growing smoothly since the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Economic and trade cooperation is an important part of the bilateral relationship and Poland has been China's largest trade partner in East Europe for six consecutive years, He said.

Last year, trade volume between China and Poland exceeded $11 billion, a record high, he said.

Expressing confidence in the vast potential of bilateral cooperation, He said that cooperation should be intensified continuously in a bid to create a sound environment for bilateral trade and investment as well as cooperation between the enterprises from the two countries.

Pawlak said Poland highly valued its relations with China and is willing to further boost the bilateral cooperation in various fields, especially economy and trade.

He arrived in Poland Tuesday for a four-day official visit after visiting France.

Poland is the second leg of He's five-nation overseas trip, which will also take him to Serbia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran.

He will make a stopover in Turkey after visiting Poland.