China, Canada to build strategic partnership
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-09-10 20:09

China and Canada agreed Friday morning on building a strategic partnership aimed at promoting the long-term and steady development of bilateral relations.

The agreement on raising China-Canada relationship from a partnership of all-round cooperation mapped out in 1997 to a strategic partnership was reached between visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin during their two-hour talks.

Martin said during the talks that the rapid growth of Canada-China relations has brought pragmatic benefits to the two peoples and is conducive to safeguarding regional peace and stability.

Canada expects continuous development of cooperation with China so as to make the two countries to become all-dimensional strategic partners, said Martin.

Hu said to enhance Sino-Canadian friendly and cooperative relations constitutes an important component of the Chinese foreign policy and the development of bilateral relations boasts a sound foundation and a good opportunity.

Both sides should push forward all-round cooperation in various fields covering politics, economy, trade, science, technology, culture, education, health and environmental protection as the establishment of such a partnership conforms to the requirements of the times and aspiration of the two peoples, said Hu.

They should also give full play to bilateral cooperative mechanisms and strengthen consultations and coordination on major international and regional issues, the Chinese president said.

He said the two sides should also expand exchanges at various levels and strengthen consultations and dialogues in various fields. Meanwhile, both sides should also strive to raise bilateral trade volume from 15.5 billion US dollars in 2004 to 30 billion US dollars in 2010.