On the afternoon of November 20, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Speaker of the ROK National Assembly Kim Hyong-o at the Great Hall of the People.

Hailing the smooth development of China-ROK ties in recent years, Hu said the leaders of the two nations had maintained frequent contacts, exchanged views on a regular basis and reached broad consensus on a range of major issues. "This gives strong impetus to the growth of bilateral relations," Hu noted. The two nations had also witnessed fruitful cooperation in economy, trade, environmental protection and energy, and made active exchanges between parliaments, political parties and people, he said. "Our coordination in international and regional affairs is close," he added. Under the current complex and volatile international situation, both China and the ROK were faced with important tasks to promote economic recovery, improve people's livelihood and safeguard peace and stability, Hu said, noting that to keep the sustainable, stable and healthy growth of bilateral ties would not only benefit the two nations and the two peoples, but also help promote regional and world peace and development. "We will work with the ROK to increase friendly exchanges at various levels and enhance pragmatic cooperation in various sectors in a bid to push China-ROK strategic cooperative partnership to a higher level," Hu said. The government also supports the legislative bodies of both countries to expand exchanges and cooperation, the president said, expressing his hope that the ROK parliamentary members would make active efforts to promote China-ROK friendship.

Echoing Hu, Kim spoke highly of China's measures to cope with the international financial crisis and to maintain stable and relatively rapid economic growth. The exchanges and cooperation between the two countries on politics, economy and humanities have achieved important outcomes and the ROK-China relationship was at its best period in history. The ROK National Assembly would work with the National People's Congress (NPC) of China to contribute to the further growth of strategic cooperative partnership between the two nations, Kim noted.

Vice Chairperson Chen Zhili of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress and other officials attended the meeting.