Minister Han Changfu Joins Activities of the Icelandic National Pavilion Day at the Shanghai Expo

Source: MOA Press Office

On 11 Sept., Han Changfu, Minister of Agriculture, as the representative of the Chinese government, and Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, President of Iceland, were present at the activities of the Icelandic National Pavilion Day at Expo 2010 Shanghai China.

Han Changfu hosted the welcome and flag-raising ceremony for the Icelandic President and his delegation at the eastern square of the Expo Center. During their meeting, the two sides exchanged views on the bilateral relations, in particular, the cooperation on agriculture and other fields. Han Changfu, on behalf of the Chinese government, extended welcome to President Grimsson and spoke highly of the major contribution made by the President to promoting development of the relations between the two countries. He noted that the bilateral relations enjoyed good development, the high-level leaders of the two sides continued to visit each other, mutual political trust kept growing, and good communication was conducted for international affairs. The two sides had been continuously deepening the mutually beneficial cooperation in the fields of fishery, ship-building, and development and utilization of geothermal resources, etc, which brought broad prospects for the economic and trade cooperation. Han Changfu said that China attached importance to the relations with Iceland, and would work together with Iceland to facilitate the bilateral friendly partnership by taking the opportunity of the 40th anniversary of establishment of the diplomatic relations between the two countries next year.

President Grimsson highly commended the friendly partnership between Iceland and China. He expressed appreciation to the Chinese government for its assistance for the economic development of Iceland during the global financial crisis and fully supported the constructive recommendations of Minister Han Changfu on stronger bilateral cooperation. He also hoped that Iceland and China could intensify the economic and trade cooperation in multiple fields, including new energy and agriculture, and contribute to the economic prosperity of the two countries and the world at large.

(Date: 13:27 12 Sept. 2010)