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MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay: Presidents of China and Uruguay yesterday expressed their strong desire to push bilateral economic and trade co-operation to a higher level.

The economies of the two countries are strongly complementary and the co-operation potential is big, said visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin in talks with his Uruguayan counterpart, Jorge Batlle Ibanez.

Trade between the two nations has surged in recent years, with the volume up to US$344 million last year. That figure stood at just US$40 million in 1988.

China has become a major trade partner with Uruguay and the biggest buyer of Uruguayan wool, Jiang said.

"While keeping the trade growth, we should expand mutual investment and increase the level of economic co-operation," Jiang was quoted by a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying in the meeting.

Jiang thanked Uruguay for its support of China's pending entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO). He believed China's accession to WTO will help China-Uruguay economic and trade co-operation.

Batlle said economic and trade co-operation is very important to his nation.

Although Uruguay is not a big country, it attaches importance to protecting the environment, which is critical to the nation's agriculture and animal husbandry, Batlle said.

Jiang said China and Uruguay could co-operate in many fields, especially in agriculture.

China has many specialized technicians and experienced agricultural workers who may come to Uruguay to assist that country in new methods, Jiang said.

He also said that different countries have different conditions, but all countries - no matter how big or small - should be equal.

Batlle said that, because Uruguay is a small country, it has strived for peaceful co-existence with other countries.

"The increased relations between China and Uruguay conform to the basic interests of both peoples and are conducive to increasing the overall power of developing countries," Jiang said.

After their talks, the two presidents also met the press. Batlle reiterated his nation's support for China's entry into the WTO as soon as possible.

China and Uruguay yesterday also signed two documents, an implementation plan for cultural exchanges between the two countries and an agreement on co-operation between institutes of foreign affairs of the two countries.

China also donated some books to the national library of Uruguay.

         
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