On the afternoon of October 19, President Hu Jintao met with Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretian in Bangkok. Hu recalled that Chretian and former Chinese President Jiang Zemin had decided to build Sino-Canadian comprehensive partnership of cooperation oriented towards the 21stcentury back in 1997, which pointed out the direction for the development of bilateral relations. He noted that thanks to the concerted efforts of both sides, China and Canada enjoyed ever closer political ties, ever expanding economic cooperation and trade and the two countries had also intensified consultation and coordination in international and regional issues in the new century. He said the new generation of Chinese leadership attached great importance to Sino-Canadian relations and stood ready to work with the Canadian side so as to push bilateral relations to a new high.

Chretian said that bilateral relations had witnessed rapid development in recent years and the two countries had conducted fruitful cooperation in such areas as politics, economy and trade, and science and technology. Noting that he was going to visit China for the 6thtime after the APEC informal leadership meeting, Chretian said that he was looking forward to his upcoming visit and would like to see better cooperation with China in various fields.

The two leaders also exchanged views on how to further expand bilateral economic cooperation and trade. Hu said bilateral trade volume stood at nearly 8 billion US dollars the year before and was expected to exceed 10 billion US dollars this year, presenting a good momentum of development. He added that China would like to join hands with Canada to explore new means and areas for cooperation with a view of realizing a comparatively balanced development of bilateral trade.

Upon request, Hu briefed Chretian on matters pertaining to the exchange rate of RMB yuan. He stressed that the Chinese government would continue to adopt a responsible attitude in handling the exchange rate of RMB yuan, adding that China would maintain the basic stability of RMB exchange rate on a reasonable and balanced level and would further explore and improve the RMB rate-forming mechanism while deepening its financial system.