On April 3, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea (ROK) in London.

Hu hailed the sound momentum of bilateral ties, pointing to the successful exchange of visits between the two presidents and the establishment of bilateral strategic cooperative partnership last year. Various consensus reached by both sides has been or is being implemented recently with an increasing of exchanges between departments at all levels, enhanced mutual trust and expanding economic and trade cooperation. Both sides have witnessed positive outcome achieved in exchanges and cooperation on environmental protection and finance, closer personnel exchanges and frequent communication and coordination in international and regional affairs. A high-level strategic dialogue mechanism between the two foreign ministries has been successfully launched, which China is satisfied with.

Hu said China and ROK are important neighbors and cooperative partners, and the development of bilateral ties is not only in the fundamental interest of the two countries and their peoples, but also conducive to peace, stability and prosperity in the region. The Chinese side attaches great importance to bilateral relations and will work with the ROK to give full play to their own advantages, further tap cooperative potentials and deepen substantial cooperation in various fields, in a bid to push bilateral ties for new progress, said Hu.

Hu pointed out that currently the global financial crisis is still spreading and deepening and takes a heavy toll on people's lives across the world. The crisis brought about a decline of bilateral trade since the beginning of this year, said Hu, stressing that both sides should see the existing opportunities in the crisis and encourage enterprises to explore their potentials and strengthen cooperation in an effort to maintain bilateral trade stability. "This is of positive significance to promoting economic growth of the two countries and the restoration of world economic growth," said Hu, expressing hope that the economic and trade departments of the two countries will enhance communication and coordination in this regard.

Hu pointed out that through the Group of 20 financial summit in London, all parties expressed their resolve to jointly fight the crisis and made proposals in this regard. "Now confidence and unity are more important than anything else and China will strengthen coordination and cooperation with the vast majority of developing countries in fighting the international financial crisis," said Hu.

Lee said he was glad to meet President Hu in London. He lauded China's effective measures to maintain economic growth under the current situation, saying it is not only conducive to China's own development but also very important to restoring world economic growth. He said his country and China have close economic and trade relations, hoping that the two countries will continue to keep the sound momentum for trade growth, strengthen regional cooperation in East Asia, and jointly combat the international financial crisis.

They also exchanged views on such issues as the situation on the Korean Peninsula and climate change.

Wang Qishan, Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo attended the meeting.