On November 19, 2004. Chinese President Hu Jintao met with his Vietnamese counterpart Tran Duc Luong in Santiago and the two sides held friendly talks on China-Vietnam ties, the upcoming Informal APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit and other issues.

Hu said that under the guidance of the 16-word principle defined by the leaders of the two countries, namely "long-term stability, future-oriented, good-neighborliness and comprehensive cooperation", China-Vietnam ties are generally developing well. High-level leaders of the two countries maintain frequent exchanges and both sides enjoy smooth progress in their cooperation in various fields. The process of demarcating land boundaries between the two countries is accelerating and the two agreements concerning the Beibu Gulf are under implementation.

Hu said that we attach great importance to developing China-Vietnam ties and take it as priority in China's diplomacy with neighboring countries. We would like to work along with Vietnam to continuously push bilateral ties to new levels,

Hu pointed out that the economies of China and Vietnam are highly complementary to each other and the two countries that are linked by mountains and rivers and have similar cultures enjoy obvious advantages for economic and trade cooperation. The two governments should actively encourage enterprises of the two countries to expand the trade scale and further enlarge cooperation in energy resources, industry and infrastructure construction. Both sides should step up efforts to implement the already reached cooperation agreements. With regard to those yet to be reached, the two sides should strengthen the feasibility research and actively consult on them so as to complete these agreements at an early date. Both sides should also try to lay a solid foundation for bilateral long-term economic cooperation. He said the Chinese government persistently supports Vietnam to accede to the Word Trade Organization (WTO) at the earliest date possible. It is hoped that both sides can step up work to conclude negotiations at an early date.

Tran Duc Luong fully agreed to Hu Jintao's proposals on strengthening bilateral ties and reaffirmed Vietnam holds strong aspiration for keeping closer cooperation with China in various fields and will make joint efforts with China to push bilateral friendly ties for all-round development based on the 16-word principle set forth by the leaders of the two countries.