On September 25 local time, Vice Premier Zhang Gaoli, who was visiting Romania upon invitation, held talks with First Deputy Prime Minister Liviu Dragnea of Romania in Bucharest and met with President of Chamber of Deputies Valeriu Stefan Zgonea and Deputy Prime Minister Gabriel Oprea. Prior to that, Zhang Gaoli met in New York on September 23 with Prime Minister Victor Ponta of Romania on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) Climate Summit.

When meeting with Ponta, Zhang Gaoli first conveyed kind greetings from Premier Li Keqiang to him. Zhang Gaoli said that since China and Romania established diplomatic relationship 65 years ago, the two countries have always respected the development path chosen by the other side and cared for each other's core interests and major concerns, and bilateral relations enjoy a solid political foundation. In the past year, the Chinese Premier and the Romanian Prime Minister visited each other's country, fully embodying the uniqueness and high level of bilateral relations. At present, bilateral relations have entered a new development stage, and the two sides should conscientiously research and comprehensively plan the direction and emphasis of bilateral relations in the next period, and well draw the development roadmap for bilateral relations. Both sides should constantly expand the scale of practical cooperation, tap potential and create new highlights, thus to promote bilateral cooperation for more fruitful results.

Ponta asked Zhang Gaoli to convey his sincere greetings to Premier Li Keqiang. He said that Romania-China friendship lasts from generation to generation and bilateral relations enjoy a solid foundation. Currently, the two countries witness close high-level exchanges, good political relations and rapid growing of economic and trade cooperation. The Romanian side attaches great importance to enhancing cooperation with China and will continue to push bilateral relations for greater development.

When holding talks with Dragnea, Zhang Gaoli expressed that this year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relationship and 10th anniversary of establishment of the bilateral comprehensive friendly cooperative partnership. China is willing to, together with Romania, inherit the past and usher in the future, and push forward bilateral friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation to a new high. Under the joint efforts of both sides, bilateral energy cooperation projects in thermal power, hydropower and nuclear power have scored important progress. Both sides should further enhance cooperation and speed up the construction of the projects. Both sides should accelerate the research and advancement of cooperation in transport infrastructure such as highway and high-speed rail. The needs for agricultural cooperation in the two countries are highly consistent. Both sides should encourage the cooperation between enterprises of the two countries and expand agricultural and husbandry export of Romania to China. Both sides should further strengthen exchanges and cooperation between youth and in education and other fields, well organize activities celebrating the 65th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations and enhance mutual understanding between the two peoples.

Zhang Gaoli pointed out that Romania is an important country in the Central and Eastern European region and also a good friend and partner of China in the European Union (EU). It is hoped that Romania will make new contributions to advancing cooperation between China and the Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) and strengthening mutual trust and deepening cooperation between China and the EU. China will cooperate closely with Romania to well organize the ninth China-CEEC Forum on Agricultural, Economic and Trade Cooperation soon to be held in Romania.

Dragnea and Oprea expressed that Romania and China enjoy traditional friendship and are special cooperative partners. The two countries will advance practical cooperation in all fields based on political consensus. Romania is looking forward to further deepening its cooperation with China in energy, transportation, agriculture, education and other areas and stands ready to play a positive role in promoting EU-China relations and CEEC-China cooperation.

Both sides also exchanged in-depth views on respective development strategy, investment environment, urbanization, rural construction, environmental protection and other fields.

When meeting with Zgonea, Zhang Gaoli said that China and Romania enjoy time-honored traditional friendship. I have deeply felt the friendly affection of the Romanian people toward the Chinese people through this visit. China is willing to, together with Romania, continue to enhance exchanges and cooperation between the legislative bodies of the two countries, and expand people-to-people and cultural exchanges at all levels and in all fields, providing reliable legal guarantee for sound bilateral political relations and economic and trade cooperation, and cementing social and public opinion foundations for bilateral relations.

Zgonea said that Romania was, is and will always be a trustworthy good partner of China. Romania and China intensifying cooperation will bring more benefits to both peoples. The Romanian parliament will continuously strengthen exchanges and cooperation with China's legislative bodies and contribute more to deepening bilateral friendly relations and pushing forward bilateral economic and trade cooperation.