In Canada, the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, has arrived in the capital of Ottawa for a state visit aimed at promoting the all-round partnership between the two countries.
This is the first visit to Canada by a Chinese head of state in eight years. On his arrival, Hu said he was looking forward to having an in-depth exchange of views with Canadian leaders on ways to deepen their mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas. Bilateral ties between the two have developed rapidly since diplomatic relations were established thirty-five years ago. This was enhanced when the all-round cooperative partnership was formed in 1997. Bilateral trade reached fifteen and a half billion US dollars last year, a fifty-five percent increase over the previous year. In just the first six months of 2005, the figure was nine billion dollars.
e two countries.