China's top legislator emphasizes parliamentary exchanges with Pakistan

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The legislatures of China and Pakistan should step up contact and exchanges to contribute to the development of bilateral links, China's top legislator said Friday.

Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), made the remarks while meeting with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in downtown Beijing's Great Hall of the People.

Zhang said China and Pakistan are all-weather partners of strategic cooperation, and the two countries enjoy deep-rooted friendship and achieved rich results in bilateral cooperation.

He said the two sides should treasure the friendship, further deepen cooperation and join hands to open up even broader prospects of bilateral links.

Over the years, the parliaments of the two countries have maintained sound exchanges and cooperation and played an important role in promoting the growth of bilateral relations, the legislator said, adding that the NPC is a firm supporter and strong proponent of the China-Pakistan friendship.

Zhang said the NPC is ready to further strengthen friendly exchanges with the Pakistani Senate and National Assembly, the lower house, by sharing experiences in law making and supervision to provide a legal basis for bilateral cooperation.

Sharif said Pakistan treasures its friendship with China and is ready to deepen cooperation, advance inter-parliament exchanges and promote the growth of bilateral links to benefit the two peoples.