国内英语新闻:China to help developing countries on parliament capacity building

LUSAKA, March 21 (Xinhua) -- China will launch a program to train members of parliament of some Asian and African countries so as to improve the capacity of parliament in the developing countries, a senior Chinese official said here on Monday.

Chinese top legislator Zhang Dejiang announced the program at a breakfast meeting with Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)'s President Saber Chowdhury and parliamentary leaders of Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Cambodia on the sidelines of the 134th IPU Assembly.

Zhang said that China, a member of the developing world, will firmly safeguard the common interests of developing countries and continuously expand south-south cooperation.

On Saturday, Zhang attended the inaugural ceremony of the assembly, and delivered a speech on Sunday. It was the first time a chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress participated in the IPU Assembly.

China is committed to developing socialist democracy and has successfully found a political development path in line with its national conditions, Zhang said on Sunday, stressing that China's democratic development has proved that democracy can be realized in various forms.

On China's economic situation, Zhang said that the Chinese top legislative body has approved the country's new development plan for the next five years earlier this month, and China's development will bring more opportunities to the world.

More than 670 members of parliament from over 130 countries, including 87 speakers and deputy speakers of parliament, are attending the assembly, which continues until Wednesday.

On Sunday afternoon, Zhang held separate meetings with parliamentary leaders of Egypt, South Africa and Mozambique to promote bilateral ties and push forward the implementation of the outcomes of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit held in Johannesburg in December.

At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping outlined a raft of measures to strengthen China-Africa ties and announced 10 major plans to boost bilateral win-win cooperation.

Zhang said legislatures should fully play their roles in promoting the implementation of the mutual-beneficial plans.

Zhang is paying a 10-day visit to Africa from March 18 to 27. Following his Zambia tour, the top legislator will visit Rwanda and Kenya.