Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｈａｎｓ Ａｇｅｒ ｏｆ Ａｕｓｔｒｉａｎ Ｆｅｄｅｒａｌ Ｃｏｕｎｃｉｌ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

An Austrian goodwill delegation led by Hans Ager， president of the Austrian Federal Council and board member of the Austrian Association for Promotion of Friendship and Cultural Relations with China (AAPFCRC)， paid a friendly visit to China in November， 2003 at the invitation of the CPAFFC. On the delegation were Dietmar Bachmann， president of the Industrial Federation of Tirol， Franz Grundwald， director of the 1st District of Vienna， Gerd Kaminski， executive vice president of the AAPFCRC， and personages from the economic， business， scientific， cultural and art circles.

On November 11， Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Jia Qinglin met with President Ager and his delegation in the Great Hall of the People. Jia Qinglin extended warm welcome to Ager and his party and expressed his belief that their visit would further promote the relationship of friendship and cooperation between China and Austria and their peoples. President Ager thanked Chairman Jia Qinglin for taking time off his busy schedule to meet with the delegation and on behalf of Austria and the Austrian people， expressed warm congratulations on China's successful launching of manned spaceship， happily recalled his visit to China the previous year and said that he had observed vigorous construction and development in China. He expressed admiration for the diligent Chinese people and his hope to further strengthen friendly cooperation in broad areas including friendly cooperation between localities. The President also expressed his appreciation of the unremitting efforts made by the AAPFCRC and the CPAFFC to enhance Austria-China relations. Jia Qinglin pointed out， 32 years have passed since China and Austria established diplomatic relations. The two countries have seen frequent high-level exchanges of visits and smooth and fruitful cooperation and exchanges in various fields. Cooperation in the economic and technological areas has maintained a good momentum， playing a positive role in promoting the development and prosperity of the two countries. Chairman Jia said， the CPAFFC and the AAPFCRC have been working for the friendship between our two countries and played an important role in expanding exchanges and cooperation in many fields including cooperation between localities of our two countries. They have done a great deal of work and achieved good results. He held， people-to-people exchanges and friendship are an important supplement to state relations and a driving force for development. There is much to be done in enhancing exchanges and cooperation in broad areas between our two countries and peoples. He hoped that the CPAFFC and the AAPFCRC would further strengthen friendly cooperation so as to make new contributions to the development of friendly relations between China and Austria and their peoples.

Accompanied by CPAFFC Vice President Su Guang， President Ager and his party visited Chongqing Municipality and Henan Province. In Chongqing， Huang Zhendong， secretary of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Municipal People's Congress， met with the delegation and briefed the guests on the important position and role of Chongqing in China's western development. He welcomed the Austrian guests to learn more about Chongqing and encouraged personages of the economic， trade， scientific and technological circles of Austria to come to Chongqing for cooperation and exchanges. The two sides signed a memorandum on friendly cooperation and exchanges between Shapingba District of Chongqing and the 1st District of Vienna. The AAPFCRC presented a sculpture of the great composer W. A. Mozart to Shapingba District and an unveiling ceremony was held at a park. President Ager and his party also visited the Dazu Rock Carvings and praised the splendid ancient Chinese culture. In Zhengzhou， Li Keqiang， secretary of the Henan Provincial Committee of the CPC and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress， met with Ager and his party. The two sides gave positive appraisal of the development of the friendship relations between Henan and Tirol and held that there are broad prospects for friendly cooperation between the localities of China and Austria. They exchanged views on further strengthening exchanges and cooperation between friendship provinces/states. Representatives of the cities of Zhengzhou and Innsbruck signed a memorandum on friendly cooperation between the two cities. When visiting the Henan Vocational Technical College， the delegation held that Austria and China could conduct cooperation in specific areas such as vocational education. At the College President Ager attended the opening ceremony of the Tirol painting exhibition and a special concert given by Miss Charlotte Baumgartner， music teacher sent by Tirol to the College.

In Chongqing and Henan， the personages of the economic， business， scientific and technological circles on the delegation held talks with their Chinese counterpart， in which they spoke about their intention of cooperating with the Chinese side in areas such as purification of water， software development， timber processing， utilization of wastes， etc. and provided relevant materials. The two sides will hold further discussions on concrete projects of cooperation.