In the morning of May 23 local time, Chairman of the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Wu Bangguo who was paying an official goodwill visit to Luxembourg held friendly talks with Grand Duke Henri at the palais.

Wu first of all conveyed the cordial greetings of President Hu Jintao to Henri and spoke highly of the positive contributions made by Henri and the Luxembourg royal family to promoting the development of China-Luxembourg relations. He said that this is the first visit of China's NPC Standing Committee Chairman to Luxembourg. Over the past two days, he held productive meetings with Parliament Speaker Laurent Mosar and Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker. The two sides expressed satisfaction with the current state of the bilateral relations. They believe that the relations between China and Luxembourg set up a role model of friendly cooperation between large and small nations and agree to work together to promote the continuous development of the bilateral relations. Luxembourg is one of the founding members of the EU and plays a unique and important role in the Euro Group and other mechanisms within the EU. China attaches great importance to the development of friendly and cooperative relations with Luxembourg. This policy will remain unchanged no matter how the international situation fluctuates.

Henri asked Wu to convey his good wishes to President Hu. He said that it is a great honor for Luxembourg with a population of only 500,000 to have the opportunity to receive the leader of a country which has a population of 1.3 billion in this important year of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Luxembourg and China. It once again proves that the Chinese diplomacy upholds the principle of equality towards all countries, no matter big or small. The people of Luxembourg have friendly feelings towards the Chinese people. The Luxembourg royal family will continue to support the bilateral friendship.

At request, Wu introduced the implementation of China's 12th five-year plan. He said that China sets the target of 7% of average annual economic growth during the 12th five-year plan period. The aim is to pay greater attention to improving the quality and efficiency of economic growth and the focus will be put on the adjustment of economic structure, the transformation of economic growth mode and the enhancement of innovation ability. Our fundamental key this year is to seek development while maintaining stability. The Chinese economy at present grows well in general. Luxembourg is one of the world-renowned financial centers and has advantages in the modern service industry, high-end manufacturing, high technology and modern logistics. It is welcomed to actively participate in China's domestic economic construction. China will continue to support domestic enterprises to take Luxembourg as the platform to conduct trade and investment cooperation with European countries and hopes Luxembourg provides more favorable conditions to that end.

Henri said that Luxembourg and China enjoy sincere friendship and stable pragmatic cooperation. The two sides complement each other with advantages and engage in win-win cooperation. He himself has visited China six times and witnessed the huge development and changes in China. He sincerely admires the development achievements made by the Chinese people and deeply appreciates the domestic and foreign policies pursued by the Chinese government. He believes that China's sustainable development is conducive to the world economic recovery and will bring more opportunities to the European countries including Luxembourg. Luxembourg hopes to become a bridge between the Chinese investors and the European market.