On the afternoon of January 20, 2010, Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks with visiting Austrian President Heinz Fischer at the Great Hall of the People. Both sides exchanged in-depth views on furthering and developing China-Austria friendly cooperative relations and reached broad consensus.

In their talks, Hu reviewed the development of bilateral relations since China and Austria forged diplomatic relations in 1971. "China and Austria witnessed deepening and growing ties," Hu said, citing frequent exchanges between leaders of the two countries, deepening mutual understanding and trust and expanded cooperation in economy, trade, investment, science and technology and culture. Both sides have also conducted sound cooperation in the UN and other multilateral organizations. Hu appreciated the Austrian government's adherence to the one-China policy, adoption of a positive policy to China and commitment to developing China-EU ties.

Fischer hailed the smooth development of bilateral ties since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1971, saying China had become an important dialogue and cooperation partner of Austria. Fischer said Austria was satisfied with ties with China, as bilateral trade increased steadily last year despite the international financial crisis. Austria attaches great importance to China’s development and will actively commit to furthering friendly cooperative relations with China.

Fischer expressed condolences over the death of eight Chinese peacekeeping police officers in a 7.3-magnitude earthquake in Haiti last week. Hu called the eight peacekeepers "excellent children of Chinese nation and loyal guards of world peace," and said Chinese people felt grieved about their death. Though China and Haiti have not established diplomatic relations, China, proceeding from humanitarianism and internationalism, dispatched an international rescue team to the Caribbean nation and offered emergency reliefs and funds after the earthquake hit the country, Hu said. "China would work with the international community to support Haiti's relief efforts and post-quake reconstruction," Hu said.

Hu said China is ready to work with Austria to push bilateral ties to a higher level based on mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit. He raised a four-point proposal. First, enhance friendly exchanges and build up political trust. Hu proposed leaders of the two countries maintain close contacts in various forms and their government agencies and legislatures expand communication in a bid to deepen political trust. Both sides should give full play to the role of the existing mechanisms and platforms and better guide and coordinate development of bilateral ties. Second, tap complementary advantages and expand mutually beneficial cooperation. He encouraged both sides to explore new ways of collaboration and foster new areas of growth by enhancing policy dialogue, advancing demonstration projects and building technology transfer system of private enterprises. Both sides should increase the contacts between business councils so as to boost the cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises and make it a new highlight of bilateral cooperation. He called for joint efforts to revise bilateral investment protection agreement in due time and stand against trade and investment protectionism to provide a legal guarantee for expanded mutual investment. Third, promote cultural exchanges and consolidate friendship between both peoples. Hu proposed both countries work more closely in culture, education, tourism, think tank and media and promote dialogues between different cultures. "As next year will mark the 40th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic ties, China would like to work with Austria to prepare celebrations to inject new vitality into the friendship," Hu said. Fourth, maintain coordination and work closely in multilateral cooperation. China attaches importance to Austria’s unique role in international affairs and is ready to cooperate more closely with Austria on major international and regional issues. China is also ready to enhance bilateral dialogue and cooperation within the China-EU, Asia-Europe cooperation frameworks to build a fair and reasonable international order.

Fischer said Austria would like to maintain high-level exchanges and carry out bilateral dialogue with China based on mutual respect. He hoped that both sides would further strengthen trade exchanges and expand trade scale. Fischer said Austria welcomed the visit of Chinese business promotion delegation and supported cooperation between both countries’ enterprises and business councils. He also encouraged both countries to step up cooperation in the areas of aviation, science, technology and humanities. Austria is ready to enhance communication and coordination with China in the UN framework on major international issues. Austria would like to play a positive role in promoting ties between Europe and China.

After the talks, the two presidents attended a signing ceremony of cooperation documents on public health, quality quarantine, science and technology, personnel training and Chinese teaching.

Prior to the talks, President Hu held a welcome ceremony for Fischer at the North Hall of the Great Hall of the People. Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Sang Guowei, State Councilor Dai Bingguo, Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Zheng Wantong, Vice Chairperson of the Taiwan Democratic Self-Government League (TSL) Central Committee Huang Zhixian, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, Minister of the National Development and Reform Commission Zhang Ping, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming, Minister of Health Chen Zhu and Chinese Ambassador to Austria Wu Ken attended the welcome ceremony.