China will establish closer contact and coordination with Portugal's parliament to help the two nations to discuss issues of common concern, top legislator Wu Bangguo told visiting Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates.

 

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, said the NPC would boost cooperation with the Portuguese parliament in a bid to inject new vitality into bilateral ties.

 

Wu said good political relations between the two countries had boosted bilateral exchanges and cooperation in trade, cultural, educational, scientific and technological fields.

 

China values ties with Portugal, Wu said, expressing his hope that China-Portugal relations could score bigger achievements based on the current bilateral cooperation.

 

Socrates spoke positively of China's social economic development, calling China as "a good partner."

 

Portugal would consolidate the mutual trust with China and intensify the connections between the two parliaments, Socrates said.

 

As Premier Wen Jiabao's guest, Socrates arrived in Beijing on Tuesday. Besides Beijing, Socrates will visit Shanghai and Macau special administrative regions.

 

It is Socrates' first visit to China since he took office as prime minister in 2005.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 2, 2007)