Hu Jintao continues tafang Italy to sign eight cooperation agreements

Chinese President Hu Jintao, who is on a state visit to Italy in Rome July 6, will meet with Italian presidents, prime ministers and other dignitaries on 6th to witness the signing of eight cooperation agreements.　　China's assistant foreign minister, Hongbo, said at a press conference on the evening of 5th local time that these agreements cover such areas as economy, trade, culture, education, environmental protection and tourism, and details are still being finalized. Among them, the Sino-Italian foreign ministers will sign a joint statement on the Chinese culture year in Italy next year. Hongbo said the move helps Italians understand Chinese culture in a comprehensive way and is a bright spot for people-to-people exchanges.　　This event is aimed at enhancing mutual understanding between the two peoples, promoting friendship between the two peoples and strengthening the foundation of public opinion for the future development of bilateral relations. In addition, in response to a press conference on "The direction of Italy sent a procurement team" question, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, the Director of the European division Yongfu first clarified that the "Procurement team" statement is not accurate.　　The group is an economic and trade investment Promotion Group, with both procurement and export, as well as many economic and technical cooperation projects, including investment in research and development centers in Italy and investment by Italian-related companies in China. Yongfu said that Italy is China's fifth largest trading partner and investment partner in the European Union, and bilateral trade has been very close to the 2010 target of $40 billion trillion, proposed by the two leaders. Affected by the international financial crisis, bilateral trade in the first five months of this year fell by nearly 20%. Both governments and business circles are reversing the situation by strengthening trade and investment cooperation.　　One of the important objectives of China's economic and trade investment promotion mission is to balance bilateral trade and to make mutual complementarity more reasonable. Hu arrived in Rome on the afternoon of 5th, on a state visit to Italy and attended a dialogue meeting between the Group of eight and developing countries.　　The Chinese delegation held the first Chinese-foreign press conference on the trip to Europe that night in its own news center. Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu has chaired a press conference, announcing the main agenda of Hu Jintao's trip.　　Hu Jintao, Vice Foreign Minister Yafei, Assistant Minister Hongbo and director of the European division of the Ministry of Commerce Yongfu answered questions from various national journalists. The press conference lasted nearly 60 minutes, with journalists from the Associated Press concerned about the DPRK nuclear issue, as well as journalists ' concern about the representativeness of the Group of Eight and the hot topics such as reserve currency, dollar exchange rate and climate change.　　Several Chinese officials answered and responded to this. A live reporter said that when he arrived in Rome, he confronted the media of various countries and highlighted the style and mentality of China becoming more and more active when interacting with the world.