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The President of the Republic met with the President of the People's Republic of China25.08.2005
 Today, during the state visit, President Arnold Rüütel met with the President of the People's Republic of China Hu Jintao in Beijing.
During the meeting the Chinese head of the state acknowledged the long-term activities of President Rüütel concerning the development of ties of friendship between China and Estonia and expressed his conviction that the present visit will make a considerable contribution into these relations. "Irrespective of their size or level of wealth, all the states are equal," said President Hu.
President Rüütel stated that mutual cooperation is developing on different levels and in the most various fields, pointing out, first of all, the field of economy. "Estonia as a transit trade agent could be the one facilitating relations between the EU and China. We have better upgraded and deeper ports the development of which has been our great effort," said the President of the Republic of Estonia. Estonian head of the state pointed out cultural exchange and research activities as examples of well-functioning mutual cooperation areas as well as cooperation between universities in the field of education.
Chinese head of the state acknowledged the fast growth of mutual trade relations during the recent years. "China considers Estonia to be her good friend and partner. We are ready to raise our mutual relations to a new level", stated President Hu. He underlined some possibilities in this respect and President Rüütel agreed with him tightening -of ties on the level of governments, parliaments and political parties as well as economic cooperation and the development of trade contacts.
"China supports Chinese companies in their effort to come to Estonia. In this respect we see good opportunities, first of all, in the field of fishing and forestry, but also in transport and port construction as well as in the oil- shale industry. We also welcome the activities of Estonian companies in China - while developing our industry, but also in the framework of major cooperation projects, for example, the construction of Olympic facilities. Considering the trade balance, we would be glad in case Estonia could increase her export volume to China," said President Hu.
 Chinese head of the state expressed also his willingness to tighten cooperation in the fields of culture, education, science and IT activities. He added that the simplification of the visa regime would facilitate the development of tourism. At the same time he supported the tightening of relations between Estonia and China at the multilateral level as well as in the framework of international cooperation organisations.
"China is favouring a strong and wealthy European Union as her strategic partner. It is our pleasure to see that Estonia has become another good friend of us there and we hope that Estonia will be able to contribute considerably to the EU development," said Hu Jintao.
President Rüütel expressed his support to the position of his Chinese colleague. While speaking about the UN reform plans, Estonian head of the state said that hopefully the UN will soon reach a common position via an intensified dialogue between the states. "The UN as an organisation should be much more active and its decisions should be implemented more firmly. This way we could be able to make our fight against terrorism more efficient as well as facilitate democratisation processes in different societies. We could also have stronger hope for achieving the liquidation of the weapons of mass destruction," said the President of the Republic of Estonia.
Chinese head of the state also expressed his support to the UN reforms to make it stronger and more authoritative. "I am ready to cooperate with you at the next UN summit. Let us help together to reform the UN", said President Hu. He expressed his satisfaction regarding the successful meeting and common positions, adding that he personally is willing to contribute to further development of the relations between Estonia and China.
Chinese President Hu Jintao gave a dinner in honour of the Estonian head of the state.
Tomorrow the President of the Republic of Estonia will continue his state visit in the People's Republic of China with a tour to the Great Wall of China and a meeting with the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of China Wu Bangguo.
Public Relations Unit of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, August 25, 2005
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