On the morning of October 22, 2003, President Hu Jintao, who just arrived in Sydney to pay a state visit to Australia, paid a courtesy call on Australian Governor-General Michael Jeffery.

Jeffery said President Hu's visit to Australia is an honor both for the country and the Australian people and is of historic significance. It is believed that the visit will be a complete success. Australia is pleased with the important progress that has been made in cooperation between the two countries in the political and economic fields and personnel exchanges. He offered his country's congratulations on the successful launch of China's first manned space flight.

Hu spoke highly of the all-round relations of cooperation between China and Australia. Thanks to the joint efforts of both sides, the Sino-Australian ties have been developing well and there have been frequent exchanges of visits by top-level officials of the two countries. Bilateral economic and technological cooperation has steadily expanded, and two-way trade exceeded 10 billion US dollars last year, a 120-fold increase over 30 years ago when the two countries established diplomatic relations. The strategic cooperation in the energy sector between the two countries has also witnessed a good start. Hu said that during his visit, he will meet Australian leaders as well as public figures from all walks of life in Australia to have wide-ranging discussions on ways to further expand mutually beneficial cooperation so as to give a fresh impetus to the development of bilateral ties.

The two leaders also exchanged views on issues related to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and other issues of common concern.