On January 24, 2006, Chairman Wu Bangguo of the Standing Committee of the National

People's Congress (NPC) met with Saudi Arabian King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz in the Great Hall of the People.

Wu said that bilateral friendship goes back to ancient times and the friendly exchanges between both peoples have made important contributions to the contact between the oriental and western civilizations. Both countries, as big developing nations in Asia, commit to the policy of developing domestic economy, safeguarding peace in foreign affairs and respecting diversity of civilizations, and propose equality between countries. They also take similar positions on many major issues and share broad common interest.

Both economies are highly complementary to each other and enjoy high potential for strengthened economic cooperation. The NPC of China actively supports developing bilateral economic and trade cooperation of mutual benefits and would like to further enhance friendly exchanges with the Saudi Arabian Parliament, the Majlis, and contribute to understanding and friendship between both peoples, as well as comprehensive development of bilateral friendly relations.

Abdullah said that Saudi Arabia attaches great importance to relations with China and is satisfied with sound development of the current bilateral relations.

Through this visit, both sides have deepened high-level exchanges, built up understanding, expanded consensus and pushed for pragmatic cooperation. It is believed that with the joint efforts by both sides, bilateral relations will surely witness in-depth development and bring benefits to both peoples.