Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (R) meets with Wu Bangguo, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, at the Presidential Palace in Santiago, capital of Chile, Sept. 7, 2006.(Xinhua Photo)

SANTIAGO, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's top legislator, Wu Bangguo, met with Chilean President Michelle Bachelet here on Thursday, hailing the relations between China and Chile.

    Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), said that mutual political trust had been growing with frequent exchanges of high-level visits occurring in recent years between the two countries.

    Economic and trade relations between China and Chile were also growing, the scope of mutual investment was expanding, and people-to-people contacts were on the rise, Wu said while meeting Bachelet in the Presidential Palace.

    The free trade agreement and the investment and services trade negotiations between the two countries would have an important and far-reaching impact on deepening economic and trade cooperation and promoting wide-ranging exchanges between the two countries, he said.

    Wu said that he had witnessed and felt the enthusiasm of Latin American people, including the Chileans, and appreciated the positive attitude they had adopted in developing relations with China.

    His three-nation Latin America tour, which took him to Brazil, Uruguay and Chile, had been a successful one, he said.

    The top legislator also said he believed that Sino-Chilean relations, and China's relations with Latin America would surely have a bright future with the joint efforts of both sides.

    Bachelet highly appreciated what Wu had accomplished during his 13-day tour of Latin America and described the visit to Chile as a major step taken by China to deepen relations between the two countries.

    She said Chile was the first country in Latin America to have established diplomatic relations with China and her country was very proud of the political decision it made 36 years ago.

    The Chilean side highly values the existing trust and friendship between the two countries and will continue to promote their cooperative partnership.

    The free trade agreement between the two countries would be actively implemented to extend and deepen their all-round partnership of cooperation, the Chilean president said.

    Bachelet said that the Chilean government had always been consistent in clearly maintaining its support of the one-China policy and that position would never be changed in the future, forwhich Wu expressed his appreciation.

    After Thursday's meeting, Wu Bangguo and Bachelet presided over the ceremony marking the formal beginning of the investment and services trade negotiations between the two countries.

    With his meeting with Bachelet, Wu concluded his Latin America tour, which began on Aug. 28. Enditem