Exchanges

China， Chile to Boost Ties

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang， together with President Michelle Bachelet of Chile， attended the opening ceremony of the Economic and Trade Seminar marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Chile diplomatic relations and the 7th Meeting of the China-Chile Business Council in Santiago on May 26， 2015.

Li Keqiang pointed out in his speech that China is willing to， together with Chile， constantly expand bilateral trade and continue to upgrade the China-Chile free trade area. China is ready to participate in Chiles infrastructure construction in different ways and enhance financial cooperation by taking the signing of a currency swap agreement between the two countries and an agreement for China to set up the first RMB clearing bank in Latin America in Santiago as an opportunity to build financial service platforms and provide strong support for China-Latin America cooperation in production capacity. The two nations should deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges， share experiences in social governance， strengthen exchanges on disaster monitoring， early warning and relief， and intensify cooperation in issues concerning ecological protection， so as to jointly contribute to the protection of the eco-environment and biodiversity in Latin America.

Michelle Bachelet said in her speech that Chile and China had witnessed constant development in their relations and increasingly closer bilateral exchanges and cooperation since the establishment of the diplomatic relations 45 years ago. Chile is willing to work with China to launch the upgrading process of the bilateral free trade agreement， expand mutual investment and strengthen cooperation in infrastructure construction， energy and other areas， deepen people-to-people and cultural exchanges， and expand financial cooperation and promote the internationalization of the RMB in Latin America， thus jointly promoting bilateral relations to a new high.

China Signs Belt and Road Deal with Hungary

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi inked a memorandum of understanding （MOU） for cooperation between China and Hungary with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto in Budapest on June 6， 2015.

The MOU， which includes jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road， is the first of its kind that China has ever signed with a Euro- pean country.

Commenting that the Belt and Road Initiatives will closely link China and Hungary， Wang expressed hopes for Hungarys success and that it will play a pioneering and exemplary role in this regard.endprint

Wang went on to say that China welcomed more European countries to step up mutually beneficial cooperation with China and other nations in Asia by choosing to join the Belt and Road Initiatives.

Szijjarto said that his country is willing to work with China on the Belt and Road Initiatives and pledged that Hungary would make concerted efforts toward boosting pragmatic cooperation between the two sides， as well as that between China and other European countries.

China， Indonesia Co-host First Meeting of People-to-People Exchange Mechanism

Chinese Vice Premier Liu Yandong co-chaired the first meeting of the China-Indonesia peopleto-people exchange mechanism at vice premier level with Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Culture Puan Maharani in Jakarta on May 27， 2015.

During the meeting， both sides reviewed the major achievements of bilateral people-to-people exchange， reached consensus on the role， target， operation mechanism and the future exchange and cooperation plan of the exchange mechanism， and released a joint communiqué.

Liu Yandong noted that the exchange mechanism was not only a major strategic decision to focus on the future， but also a commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the establishment of China-Indonesia diplomatic ties. It would therefore produce a profound and far-reaching influence on the bilateral ties as well as on regional cooperation. At the meeting， Liu and Puan also jointly witnessed the signing of seven cooperation documents in such areas as education， science and technology， and culture.

ASEM Industry Dialogue on Connectivity Held in Chongqing

The Asia-Europe Meeting（ASEM） Industry Dialogue on Connectivity was held in Chongqing on May 27 and 28， 2015. Member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China （CPC） and Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech.

Zhang pointed out that we should gather consensus of all parties on Asia-Europe industry cooperation in connectivity. Besides， key channels， collaborations， and projects on infrastructure should be further developed to improve connectivity. Trade facilitation should be boosted， too. We should deepen investment and trade cooperation and complement each others advantages. Meanwhile， accommodation of funds should be beefed up. We should strive to remove the bottleneck in connectivity restricting Asia-Europe industry cooperation. Furthermore， exchanges and interactions in science， technology， and intelligence between the two continents should be pushed forward and mutual opening-up in education， employment， tourism， human resources， and other markets encouraged.

Zhang noted that Chinas development was closely linked with the overall development in Asia and Europe. The Belt and Road Initiatives put forward by China have become a common aspiration accommodating interests of all parties.endprint