NEW YORK, Sept. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Parliament speakers of China and South Korea agreed here Wednesday to boost cooperation between the two legislatures and facilitate the development of bilateral ties as a whole.

    Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Chinese National People's Congress (NPC), and Kim One-ki, speaker of the National Assembly of the Republic of Korea (ROK), stressed the role of parliaments in state-to-state relations.

    The two held a meeting on the sidelines of the Second World Conference of Speakers of Parliaments, a three-day gathering that started Wednesday at the headquarters of the United Nations.

    "China and South Korea are close neighbors that have identical or similar views on international and regional affairs and share broad common interests," Wu said.

    "Further developing Sino-ROK relations serves the fundamental interests of both countries and both peoples," Wu said.

    He called for a greater degree of cooperation between both parliaments and the establishment of regular communication mechanisms on issues of common concern.

    Kim, for his part, said developing ROK-China ties is the consensus of both the government and the public in South Korea and enjoys broad basis of public opinion.

    "The ROK side attaches great importance to its relations with China. The ROK National Assembly stands ready to further deepen its relations with the Chinese NPC," Kim said.

    He expressed support for Wu's proposal for setting up communication mechanisms for regular bilateral communication, and urged an early start of such mechanisms. Enditem