Top legislator Wu Bangguo arrived in Brazilian capital of Brasilia Tuesday for an official goodwill visit.

 

During his stay in Brazil, Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, is expected to meet with Brazilian government and parliament leaders to exchange views on bilateral ties and issues of common concern.

 

"I hope my visit will help deepen China-Brazil friendship, expand consensus and promote the long-term, stable and continuous development of China-Brazil strategic partnership," Wu said in a written speech at the airport.

 

Wu said as the largest developing nations in the east and west hemispheres, China and Brazil enjoyed good relations over the past 32 years.

 

"To keep enforcing and promoting China-Brazil strategic cooperation serves the basic interests of the two countries and the two peoples and also helps build a better and more harmonious world," Wu said.

 

Brazil is the first leg of Wu's three-nation tour in South America, which will also take him to Uruguay and Chile. He will also visit the Latin-American Parliament in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

 

Brazil is China's largest trade partner in South America. In 2005, the trade volume between the two countries reached US$14.8 billion, up 20 percent year-on-year.

 

Before arriving Brazil, Wu made a stopover in Porto of Portugal and met mayor of Porto on Tuesday.

 

Wu said Porto and China's economic hub Shanghai have been friendly cities for 11 years and Porto has worked as an important channel for the development of China-Portugal relations.

 

Wu said city-level or provincial cooperation is an important part of ties between states, which helps promote people-to-people friendship as well as economic and cultural cooperation.

 

He said he believes the cooperation between Porto and China will achieve greater result with joint efforts by the two sides.

 

Rio, for his part, extended his warm welcome to Wu. He said China's peaceful development is attracting worldwide attentions.

 

The mayor said Wu's visit will have significant impact on the development of friendly exchanges and reciprocal cooperation between Porto and China.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 30, 2006)