Chinese President Hu Jintao on Monday urged business leaders in China and Italy to join hands to tackle the challenges posed by the global financial crisis.

Hu made the remarks in a speech delivered to a business forum that was attended by hundreds of business leaders from China and Italy, as well as Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

As the global financial crisis has posed a severe challenge to the trade and economic cooperation between China and Italy, Hu urged the business leaders on both sides to join hands to tackle the challenges.

Hu hailed the economic cooperation between China and Italy, noting that Italy is among the first nations to open trade with China, and the trade volume between the two countries has grown rapidly since the establishment of diplomatic relations.

Bilateral trade between Italy and China reached more than 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2008, which is close to the target of 40 billion dollars set by the two sides for the year of 2010.

Italy is China's fifth largest trading partner within the European Union.

Hu is in Italy for a state visit. He will also attend an outreach session of the Group of Eight (G8) summit in the central city of L'Aquila.

At the outreach session scheduled on Thursday, leaders of the G8 nations as well as China, India,

Brazil, South Africa and Mexico, and Egypt, a special guest of the Italian president, will discuss a number of pressing issues including the world economy, the financial crisis, and international trade.

(Xinhua News Agency July 7, 2009)