Ｆｉｒｓｔ Ｃｈｉｎａ－Ｃｅｎｔｒａｌ Ａｍｅｒｉｃａ Ｐｅｏｐｌｅ－ｔｏ－Ｐｅｏｐｌｅ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ｆｏｒｕｍ Ｈｅｌｄ等

The first China-Central America People-to-People Friendship Forum， co-sponsored by the CPAFFC and the Salvadorian Association of Friendship with China (SAFC)， was held from October 22 to 23， 2006 in Mexico City， capital of Mexico. Twenty-one representatives from China， El Salvador， Nicaragua， Costa Rica， Honduras and Panama as well as ten observers from Paraguay and Mexico attended the Forum. CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin， Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Ren Jingyu， SAFC President Juan Manuel and President of the Mexican Society for Friendship with People’s China Junwencio Wing made keynote speeches. The participants discussed how to promote exchanges in the political， economic， cultural， tourisT and other fields between China and Central American countries， how to carry out nongovernmental friendly cooperation， and other such topics. A joint statement was adopted at the Forum. It was unanimously agreed to set up the Federation of Central America-China Friendship Associations. Li Xiaolin had a working session respectively with representatives of each country.

Recommendation and Introduction of RussianNorthwest Federal District Held in Beijing

Kang Jingyuan

From October 18 to 21， 2006， the activity to recommend and introduce the Northwest Federal District of Russia was held in Beijing. It was one of the main activities of the Year of Russia， sponsors of which on the Chinese side were the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CPAFFC. Ismail Amat， vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress attended the recommendation conference. Ilya L. Klebanov， plenipotentiary of the president of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District (rank of vice premier )， led a large-scale delegation to participate in the activity.

The opening ceremony of the conference was held on the morning of October 19. In his meeting with the leading members of the Russian delegation， Vice Chairman Ismail Amat welcomed Klebanov as an old friend of the Chinese people， who had made important contributions to promoting China-Russia strategic partnership. He said， in recent years Sino-Russian relations featured by frequent high-level exchanges， strengthened political mutual trust and fruitful cooperation in various fields have kept a momentum of rapid development and reached an unprecedentedly high level. The activity of the “Year of Russia” and the “Year of China” decided by the heads of state of the two countries will certainly enhance mutual understanding and traditional friendship between the two peoples， promote substantial bilateral cooperation and push forward China-Russia strategic partnership.

At the opening ceremony the documentary Economic Potential of the Northwest Federal District of Russia was shown. It was followed by speeches by Klebanov， Chen Haosu and Russian Ambassador to China Sergei Razov.

In his speech， Klebanov said， economic cooperation is an important component part of the Russia-China relations， and the cooperation in the high-tech field is an important aspect. The two sides have a huge potential of cooperation. The main purpose of this activity is to promote economic and high-tech cooperation， expand exchanges between localities and provide good opportunities for cooperation between the business circles of the two countries in the fields of energy， wood processing， machine building， ship building， production of garment and articles of daily use， agriculture， etc.

Chen Haosu said， this activity jointly held by the Chinese Foreign Ministry and the CPAFFC is an important event for deepening local cooperation and economic exchanges and trade between the two countries， and an important activity of the rich and colourful “Year of Russia”. The fact that Mr. Klebanov， Russian president’s plenipotentiary， led the delegation composed of chief leaders of various states of the federal district and a large number of entrepreneurs of strength to China to participate in the activity fully shows the Northwest Federal District’s desire and sincerity to carry out economic and trade cooperation with China. Chen hoped that entrepreneurs of the two countries would make use of this opportunity to get to know more new business partners， seek new business opportunities， create new fields of cooperation and make greater contributions to pushing forward Sino-Russian economic and technological cooperation.

In his speech， Russian Ambassador Sergei Razov said， the activity of the “Year of Russia” held in China marks a new milestone in the development of Russia-China relations. It is a unique and unprecedented project covering various fields and will add new contents to the strategic partnership between the two countries. Though Northwest Federal District is far away from China， in recent years its cooperation with many Chinese regions in various fields has been further strengthened， the project of The Pearl of the Baltic Sea with a total investment exceeding 1 billion US dollars being a good example. The Northwest Federal District with a strong economic， scientific and technological strength and well-developed economy has good conditions to cooperate with China.

At the recommendation conference， chief executives and deputy chief executives of the 11 states under the jurisdiction of the Northwest Federal District made presentations on the social and economic development of their respective states and measures taken in recent years to improve their investment environment and laws and regulations. They unanimously held that cooperation between the two sides had a great potential， and expressed their hope to actively cooperate with the Chinese side.

At the conference， the ceremony of signing agreements on the cooperative projects between the Northwest Federal District and China and the ceremony of awarding good cooperative projects were held. In the morning of the next day， the representatives of both Chinese and Russian business and financial circles were divided into five groups and had talks.

More than 150 leading officials of the departments of the local governments and representatives of the business and financial circles of the Northwest Federal District as well as Chinese representatives of the local governments and the economic and trade circles from more than 10 provinces and cities， among about 450 people， attended the conference.

After the conference， Ilya Klebanov held a reception in honour of the Chinese and Russian participants. NPC Vice Chairman Ismail Amat and CPAFFC President Chen Haosu were invited to the reception.

Leading officials of the Ministry of Commerce， Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Development and Reform Commission respectively met with Klebanov and chief members of the Russian delegation.

In his meeting with the Russian delegation， Bo Xilai， minister of commerce， said， the Northwest Federal District with a vast territory， rich natural resources and well-developed economy has a strong competitive edge and great influence in the Chinese economic circles. The two sides have a huge potential of cooperation. Minister Bo briefed the guests about China’s invitation of outside investment， infrastructure construction， and Chinese enterprises’ participation in international public bidding for building expressways and residential housing and international cooperation， and expressed his willingness to conduct cooperation with the Northwest Federal District in the infrastructure construction. Klebanov said， in 2005 the trade volume between the Northwest Federal District and China was merely 3.3 billion US dollars. But， what is gratifying is that this trade of 3.3 billion USD was mainly conducted in high-tech sectors. He said， the Russian side is willing to further increase cooperation with the Chinese side in high-tech， and the two sides have a great potential of cooperation in the fields of wood processing and energy including nuclear power stations.

In his meeting with the Russian delegation， Vice Foreign Minister Li Jinzhang said， in recent years， exchanges of high-level visits between the two countries have become more frequent， exchanges between the two peoples increasingly active and cooperation in handling international issues fruitful. With a view to promoting steady development of bilateral relations， the heads of state of the two countries have made the important decision of holding the “Year of Russia” and the “Year of China” in each other’s country. This is a great innovation for developing bilateral relations and a concrete measure to implement the Treaty of Good Neighbourliness， Friendship and Cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.

Klebanov thanked the Chinese leaders for attaching great importance to the activity of the “Year of Russia” and said that the Russian side was looking forward to the advent of the “Year of China” in Russia. On that occasion， the Northwest Federal District will hold all kinds of activities to further consolidate and expand the fruits of Russia-China cooperation. The two countries have no political disputes and their main task is to develop economic cooperation.

Both Chinese and Russian sides stressed the importance of strengthening cooperation between localities of the two countries， and unanimously held that cooperation between localities is an important component part of the China-Russia strategic partnership.

In his meeting with the Russian delegation， Zhang Xiaoqiang， vice minister of the State Development and Reform Commission， said， the activity of the “Year of Russia”， which has lasted about 10 months， has achieved very good results. The government departments， the business circles， the academic circles， the press as well as local governments of the two countries have all actively participated in it and carried out various forms of rich and colourful exchanges. The State Development and Reform Commission supports the cooperation in the infrastructure and housing construction and in the high-tech sector， and encourages and create good conditions for the small and medium-sized enterprises of the two countries to conduct cooperation.