Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski held talks Tuesday with his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao, the first top Chinese leader to visit Poland in 55 years.

As of press time, the meeting was underway.

In a written statement issued at the airport when he arrived, Hu said the two nations have strengthened exchanges and harvested fruitful achievements in recent years.

Based on mutual respect, equality and non-intervention in each other's internal affairs, the two nations are enhancing cooperation in all fields, Hu said.

Trade between China and Poland has seen tremendous growth last year.

According to the latest statistics, bilateral trade volume reached a record US$1.98 billion last year, a 43.1 percent hike from the previous year.

Poland has become China's second largest trading partner in central and Eastern Europe.

"We will encourage Chinese enterprises to increase investment and set up factories in central and east European nations," said an official from the Ministry of Commerce just days before Hu's visit.

After their meeting, the two national leaders are scheduled to appear at the signing ceremony of a joint communiqué and contracts and framework agreements on the cooperation of economy and trade, education, culture and joint operation of a copper mine in Poland.

Poland marks the first leg of Hu's four-nation visit, which also includes Hungary, Romania and Uzbekistan.

During this visit, Hu will also attend the Tashkent summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Uzbekistan.

Before leaving Beijing, Hu met with Zhang Deguang, secretary-general of the SCO and other officials from the SCO secretariat.

He gave a positive appraisal of what the SCO secretariat has done since its founding in January.

The SCO should focus on developing concrete cooperation in various fields, and the major task of the Tashkent summit was to set clear projects and put forward concrete measures for the concrete cooperation in fields of organizational security and economy, he said.

As host country of the secretariat, China will continue to give full support to the institute and provide all necessary convenience and assistance, he said.

Zhang said the secretariat will endeavor to implement the consensus reached by the member nations and to serve their common interests.

(China Daily June 9, 2004)