Hu's visit fosters closer political and economic ties with Denmark

Visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao undertook a number of official engagements here Friday during his first state visit to Denmark.

The visit, the first by a Chinese head of state since the two countries established diplomatic ties 62 years ago, served to further advance the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.

It has also brought about fresh opportunities for cooperation, with a raft of trade deals being signed here between enterprises of the two countries.

FOSTER CLOSER TIES

On Friday, Hu and his wife Liu Yongqing paid a courtesy call to Denmark's Queen Margrethe II and her husband Prince Consort Henrik at Amalienborg Castle, the Queen's official residence.

During the meeting, Hu and the Danish royal couple discussed bilateral relations, agreeing to advance their comprehensive strategic partnership to a higher level.

Speaking of the long history of friendly exchanges enjoyed by the two peoples, Hu said the establishment of the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2008 had pushed bilateral relations to a new stage.

China, he said, attaches great importance to its ties with Denmark and is ready to expand friendly exchanges and cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit so as to further advance the China-Danish comprehensive strategic partnership.

The queen and the Prince Consort recalled their visit to China back in 1979, saying that China has made tremendous progress and remarkable achievements in development ever since then.

The relationship between Denmark and China has also come a long way and maintained a good momentum of development, especially after 2008 when the two countries established the comprehensive strategic partnership, said the queen.

After the meeting, Hu and his wife Liu Yongqing, accompanied by the Danish royal couple, took a tour of Copenhagen's picturesque canals and seaside waterfronts on board the royal yacht.

During the boat trip, Hu was briefed by Danish officials about Copenhagen city's system for cleaning its wastewater and sewage.

During a meeting between Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and his Danish counterpart Villy Sovndal, Yang pledged efforts to implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries and expand their cooperation in depth and breadth so as to turn the initiatives put forward during the visit into tangible results.

Sovndal, for his part, said he believed Hu's visit will boost mutual understanding, expand mutual beneficial cooperation and advance China-Denmark ties to a higher level.