Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries -

President Li Xiaolin met in CPAFFC with Mr. ABE SHUICHI, Governor of Nagano Prefecture, and his delegation on the afternoon of December 13th. Mr. Song Jingwu, Vice President of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC), Mr. Liu Xiaojun, Director General of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People’s Government of Hebei Province, attended the meeting.

President Li extended welcome to the delegation led by ABE SHUICHI and spoke highly of the efforts he had made in the past several years on promoting the local exchanges and cooperation between China and Japan. President Li said that next year will mark the 45th Anniversary of Normalization of Sino-Japanese Diplomatic Relations and the year next will be the 40th Anniversary of the Conclusion of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between China and Japan, the third China-Japan Governors Forum will also be held in the next year. Therefore, she hoped that the local governments of the two countries should take these opportunities to strengthen the exchanges, expand cooperation and try to enhance mutual understanding and friendly feelings of the two peoples so as to continuously inject vitality into the improvement and development of China-Japan relations.

ABE SHUICHI thanked CPAFFC and CJFA for giving supports to the exchanges developed by Nagano Prefecture with China during these years. After introducing the exchanges with China, he said, Japan-China friendship conforms to the basic interests of the two countries and is also beneficial to the peace and prosperity for Asia and even the world. Nagano Prefecture would continue to carry forward the beneficial mode of taking government and people as one unit and increasingly strengthen the exchanges and cooperation in various fields with Hebei Province and relevant organizations of Chinese side as well as promote the cause of China and Japan friendship as before. Winter Olympic Games was held in Nagano Prefecture in 1998. Therefore, we are willing to play our own advantages to give the Chinese side a lot of support in successfully organizing the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Winter Olympic Games and the universal development of Chinese winter sports.

President Li Xiaolin conveyed CJFA President Tang Jiaxuan’s greetings to ABE SHUICHI. The delegation was invited by CPAFFC to visit China this time. On the evening of 13th, Vice President Song Jingwu hosted a banquet for the delegation. ABE SHUICHI paid an official visit to General Administration Sport on the morning of 14th. The both sides reached a consensus on further strengthening the friendly exchanges in field of sport.