国内英语新闻:China pledges stronger parliamentary exchanges with Italy

BEIJING, Dec. 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday vowed to cement parliamentary exchanges with Italy.

During his talks with visiting Italian Senate President Piero Grasso, China's top legislator Zhang Dejiang noted the strength of ties between China and Italy, highlighting political trust, high-level interactions, fruitful cooperation and people-to-people exchanges.

Zhang, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), said President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative has provided a new platform for China-Italy cooperation and that the two sides can give priority to key projects in environment protection, agriculture, sustainable urbanization, medicine and healthcare, aeronautics and astronautics.

Zhang also called for conjoining the Belt and Road initiative and the European Union's (EU's) investment plan.

Zhang said the NPC will cooperate more with the Italian Senate, increase exchanges on governance and legislative supervision, and work with the Italian side to facilitate investment and personal visits. He also said he looked forward to more coordination between the two sides in multilateral parliamentary organizations to safeguard common interests.

Grasso, who is in China to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, said Italy stands ready to participate in the Belt and Road initiative and will work to boost cooperation between the EU and China.

During his meeting with Grasso, Yu Zhengsheng, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), called Italy a good friend and important partner for China in the EU.

The two sides have maintained frequent high-level exchanges, enhanced political trust and supported each other on issues regarding respective core interests and major concerns, Yu said.

The CPPCC expects to share governance experience with the Italian Senate and expand common ground to play a constructive role in promoting domestic development and China-Italy ties, he said.

Grasso said Italy hopes to take the opportunity of the 45th anniversary of diplomatic ties this year to promote win-win cooperation with China.