Chinese premier meets counterparts in Hanoi
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Laos stood ready to work closely with China to deepen exchanges and cooperation in various fields and give full play to the China-ASEAN free trade area to upgrade economic and trade cooperation, he said.
Wen arrived in Hanoi on Thursday afternoon. He is expected to attend the 13th summit between China and the ASEAN; the 13th summit between ASEAN, China, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK); and the fifth East Asia Summit. He will also attend a meeting with the leaders of Japan and the ROK.
The summit meeting between ASEAN and China, the first since the launching of China-ASEAN free trade area on Jan. 1, is expected to invigorate the increasingly strong bilateral ties between the two sides.
Bilateral trade increased 44 percent in the first nine months of this year, registering a record high of 211.3 billion U.S. dollars.
"This is the eighth time I have attended ASEAN summit meetings. The situation has changed a lot, but I am still very confident that the meetings will succeed as expected," Wen told reporters on the plane.
"China is developing very fast and both sides have benefited from the bilateral cooperation. Bilateral trade between China and ASEAN has surpassed 200 billion U.S. dollars as of now and is very likely to surpass 300 billion dollars by the end of this year," he said.
Briefing reporters before Wen's visit, Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, described the visit as "an important event" by the head of the Chinese government to strengthen ties with neighboring countries.
"As a key member of Asia, China has vehemently supported and actively participated in East Asia cooperation," he said.
China would, as ever, attend the summits with a view to boosting friendship, cooperation and common development, he said.
Apart from enhancing cooperation and exchanging views on regional issues, the East Asia summit is expected to formally invite Russia and the United States to become members of the forum.
On Friday Chinese Premier Wen met with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh in Hanoi to discuss bilateral ties and other issues of common concern. The meeting was also held on the sidelines of a series of summits between ASEAN and its partners in the capital of Vietnam.
