On the afternoon of November 13, 2005, Chinese President Hu Jintao who was on a state visit to Spain met in the hotel where he stayed with Honorary President for Life of the International Olympic Committee and Spain-side chairman of the China-Spain Forum Juan Antonio Samaranch.

Hu first of all sang high praise for Samaranch's support for the development of Olympic movement in China over years. During the past 32 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Spain the bilateral political relations have been increasingly strengthened, economic and trade cooperation keeps expanding and exchanges and cooperation in such fields as science and technology, culture, education, sports and tourism have achieved fruitful results, creating tangible benefits to the two peoples. China expects to work with Spain to push for new headways of the friendly cooperation in various fields and raise the bilateral relations to a new level, said Hu.

Hu noted that the China-Spain Forum is an important platform for promoting bilateral cooperation. Since its establishment two years ago the forum has played a positive role in pushing forward China-Spain friendly cooperation. As the Spain-side chairman of the forum, Samaranch has been dedicated to the smooth running of the forum. With the deepening of China-Spain relations, the forum has a big potential to be tapped. He expressed hope that friends from both China and Spain present at the forum can make joint efforts to further strengthen exchanges and expand cooperation so as to serve as a link in promoting the development of bilateral relations.

Hu said that the preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games are going on steadily and the construction of Olympic venues is well underway. All the venues must meet the requirement of holding test events by the end of 2007. Spain has accumulated experiences in hosting Olympics and other major sports events and China and Spain can enhance exchanges and cooperation in this area.

Samaranch said that the Spain-China Forum has played an effective role in promoting the development of bilateral ties. He is very honored and proud of having helped promote the Olympic movement in China and fully confident that the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will be a complete success.

On the afternoon, Hu visited the national operation monitoring center of Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica in the northern suburbs of Madrid. Hu said that Telefonica has sound international operation while China has rapidly growing market and independently developed technologies. To strengthen bilateral cooperation helps both sides complement each other with their own advantages and achieve win-win results. Spanish Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Jose Montilla and Telefonica's president Cesar Alierta told Hu that China's role and influence in the world economy rise quickly and Spain is looking forward to expanding cooperation with China.

As one of the leading telecommunications companies in the world, Telefonica is building increasingly close relations with China in recent years.