WASHINGTON, March 31 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Senate leaders met a group of Chinese lawmakers on Friday, and the two sides agreed that joint efforts are needed to make Chinese President Hu Jintao's upcoming visit to the United States a success.

    At the meeting attended by U.S. Senate President pro tempore Ted Stevens, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and Chinese lawmakers from a delegation of China's National People's Congress (NPC), the two sides agreed that Hu's visit in April is a big event in bilateral relations.

    They also agreed that the visit is of great importance to promoting the healthy and stable development of China-U.S. relations.

    The Chinese delegation was headed by Jiang Enzhu, chairman of the NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee.

    Exchanges between the legislative bodies of the United States and China are very important, and the exchange mechanism should be strengthened, Stevens said.

    Stevens added that he is looking forward to visiting China in August this year and the third formal session of the parliamentary conference mechanism to be held between the Senate and the NPC in Beijing at that time.

    The NPC delegation and members of the U.S. House of Representatives held the eighth round of formal meetings under the inter-parliamentary exchange mechanism between the NPC and the House on Wednesday.

    Their discussions covered a wide range of issues, including China-U.S. relations, Taiwan, bilateral economic and trade ties, exchanges between the parliaments of the two countries, international and regional situations, and security and defense. Enditem