Lu Yongxiang (R), vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, shakes hands with Gerd Otto Hoofe, state secretary of the Ministry of Youth from Germany, in Beijing on Friday, March 28, 2008. (Xinhua Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    BEIJING, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Lu Yongxiang, vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, China's top legislative body, on Friday afternoon met with a youth delegation from Germany in the Great Hall of the People.

    The 100-person youth delegation, headed by Gerd Otto Hoofe, state secretary of the Ministry of Youth, has visited Shanghai, China's economic hub and Tianjin, a major port city in north China, apart from Beijing.

    The youth delegation, the fourth of its kind, is part of the program kicked off by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in his visit to Germany in September of 2006 to invite 400 German young people to visit China since the year of 2007.

    The program is the first-ever large youth exchange program launched between China and Germany and is co-organized by the All-China Youth Federation and the Ministry of Youth of Germany.

    Lu said in the meeting that the youth exchange program plays a positive role in enhancing the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, in particular between the young people of the two countries.

    The previous three 100-person delegations all visited China in 2007.