During talks with visiting Moldovan Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Zhu pointed out that the two countries should continue their efforts in four areas of cooperation.

The four areas are: giving full play to the role of the mixed Sino-Moldovan economic and trade committee that will hold its second meeting in Beijing next year; encouraging state-owned enterprises and companies of both countries to contact each other directly; strengthening promotion and increasing the popularity of both countries' products in each other's market; and exploring the possibilities of cooperation under multilateral economic frameworks such as the World Trade Organization.

Zhu said that he highly appreciated the smooth development of bilateral relations since China and Moldova established diplomatic relations in January 1992.

He noted that during Chinese President Jiang Zemin's visit to Moldova in July, the two countries had signed a joint statement and set the guideline and principles for the development of bilateral relations in the future.

Chinese Premier expressed the wish that the governments of the two countries would follow the principles of the joint statement and carry out the consensus of their respective state leaders.

He said that China is ready to maintain high-level contacts, and expand exchanges and cooperation with Moldova in various fields.

He reiterated China's consistent support for the efforts the Moldovan government has made to safeguard national independence and integrity of its sovereignty and land. China hopes that the issue of the left bank of the Dniester River will be resolved through peaceful means at the earliest possible date. He said that he hoped that Moldova would realize its unification as soon as possible.

Tarlev said President Jiang Zemin's visit to Moldova has helped promote the bilateral relations to a new level. He highly praised the friendly cooperation between the two countries on the international stage, and their joint efforts to combat separatism and power politics.

Tarlev reiterated the Moldovan government's stance of "one China" on the Taiwan issue. He also invited Premier Zhu to visit Moldova at a convenient time.

Following the talks, Zhu and Tarlev attended the signing ceremony of documents on bilateral cooperation concerning viticulture and wine production, and on cooperation between the ministries of justice of the two countries.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2001)