On October 20, 2016, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) Zhang Dejiang met respectively with President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines and Speaker of the Parliament Ilir Meta of Albania at the Great Hall of the People.

During his meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, Zhang Dejiang said that China and the Philippines enjoy time-honored friendship, and the public support for good-neighborliness and friendship between the two countries has not changed. President Xi Jinping and Mr. President have reached important consensus on improving bilateral relations and carrying out comprehensive cooperation, charting the course for the future development of China-Philippines relations. Both sides should consolidate political mutual trust, strengthen the docking of development, and expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges, so as to push for the continuous development of China-Philippines relations along a right track. The NPC attaches great importance to its relations with the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines, and is willing to work with the Philippine side to implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of state, strengthen exchanges and cooperation and actively promote China-Philippines friendship.

Rodrigo Duterte noted that the Philippines is willing to constantly consolidate and strengthen relations with China and advance the two legislative bodies to step up exchanges and cooperation, enhance mutual understanding and reinforce mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields between the two countries, so as to benefit the two peoples.

Wang Chen was present at the meeting.

When meeting with Ilir Meta, Zhang Dejiang expressed that Albania is a trustworthy friend and good partner of China in Central and Eastern Europe. China cherishes the traditional China-Albania friendship. At present, the development of bilateral relations has entered a fast lane with the "Belt and Road" initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping and the in-depth advancement of cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries, bringing new opportunities for China-Albania cooperation. It is hoped that the Albanian side will seize the opportunity to reinforce the docking of development strategies and actively participate in regional economic cooperation so as to turn the sound political relations between China and Albania into solid outcomes of pragmatic cooperation and better benefit the two peoples. The NPC is willing to further deepen its friendship with the Albanian parliament, strengthen exchanges of experience on state governance and administration and carry forward China-Albania friendship so as to constantly push bilateral relations for in-depth development.

Ilir Meta stated that being friendly towards China is the consensus of all circles in Albania and China-Albania friendship has laid a solid foundation for bilateral mutually beneficial cooperation. The parliament of Albania hopes to conduct in-depth exchanges and cooperation with the NPC.

Wang Chen attended the meeting.