On July 6, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao held talks with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano in Rome, Italy.

During the talks, Hu said Italy, a country with a long history of civilization, has made important contributions to the development of human civilization and social progress. Chinese-Italian relations have witnessed healthy and stable expansion over the past 39 years since the two countries established diplomatic relations. In 2004, the two countries agreed to establish an all-around strategic partnership, unveiling a new page for Chinese-Italian friendly cooperation, Hu said. Recent years have witnessed frequent high-level exchanges, deepening political trust and close cooperation in international and regional affairs. Both sides have maintained fruitful cooperation on economy and trade with Italy becoming China's fifth trade partner in EU member states. The two-way investment has been more dynamic and both sides have enriched their humanities exchanges and engaged in effective cooperation on education, science and technology, environmental protection and tourism. The comprehensive development of China-Italy relations represents sincere exchanges of the two ancient civilizations, peaceful coexistence of different social systems and mutually beneficial cooperation of countries with different development levels, said Hu.

In reviewing the development process of bilateral ties, Hu made a four-point summarization. First, the two peoples share profound traditional friendship and both sides have no fundamental conflicts of interests, nor issues left over by history, which lays a solid foundation for the development of bilateral ties. Second, both sides have always offered mutual understanding and taken each other's major concerns into consideration while shelving differences in social system and cultural tradition and adhering to equality, mutual respect and mutual trust. Third, both sides have always viewed and handled bilateral ties from a strategic height and a long-term perspective. Their decision to establish the all-round strategic partnership has injected strong impetus into  comprehensive bilateral cooperation. Fourth, the two countries share identical or similar views on many major international and regional issues and they both commit to world peace and development with common interest and cooperation area expanding continuously.

As next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the forging of bilateral diplomatic relations, China is willing to join hands with Italy to carry forward the tradition of friendly cooperation, jointly cope with the global financial crisis and lift bilateral all-round strategic partnership to a higher level, Hu said. In order to boost the ties, the Chinese president offered a five-point proposal. Firstly, Hu said the two countries should increase high-level exchanges and consolidate China-Italy friendship. Hu proposed that both sides host various events to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, adding that much attention should be paid to the "Chinese Culture Year" next year in Italy in a bid to deepen mutual understanding and friendship between both peoples. Secondly, Hu said the two sides should enhance political mutual trust and take each other's major concerns into consideration. The Taiwan and Tibet issues are the key concerns of the Chinese side, Hu said, urging Italy to understand China's concerns and offer support. Hu also said he believed Italy would continue to exert its positive and important influence within the European Union to boost the sound, stable development of the China-EU ties. Thirdly, Hu urged both sides to expand substantial cooperation and achieve a win-win outcome. He urged both sides to strengthen dialogue on macroeconomic policy, expand financial cooperation and encourage the businesses of the two countries, especially small and medium-sized enterprises and to enhance mutual investment and technical cooperation. Both sides should also strengthen cooperation on such emerging areas as science and technology, environment protection, medicine and tourism and foster new growth points. Fourthly, the Chinese president said both sides should increase people-to-people communications and cultural exchanges in order to boost their bilateral friendship. He suggested that both countries increase exchanges between their colleges and universities, scientific research institutions, think tanks and media and expand local-level and people-to-people contacts. Finally, Hu urged both sides to strengthen multilateral cooperation and promote world harmony. Both sides should conduct more cooperation and communication in international organizations and multilateral frameworks. Hu said both countries could enhance dialogue and coordination on various major international issues such as the global financial crisis, reform of the UN Security Council, climate change, environment protection and sustainable development, in a bid to promote world peace and development.

Napolitano said the friendship between the two countries enjoys a time-honored history. Despite the distance keeping the two countries apart, both peoples share connected feelings. Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of the forging of bilateral diplomatic relations. Since the two countries forged their all-round strategic partnership in 2004, the cooperation between Italy and China has seen smooth expansion in a wide range of fields. Napolitano said Italy is willing to further increase its economic cooperation and trade with China, exert every effort to host the "Chinese Culture Year" in Italy and push forward the development of bilateral ties.

"We live in a globalized world undergoing great changes," said Napolitano. He praised the rapid economic and social development of China, as well as its positive and important role in the international arena. He appreciated China's role in the G20 summit, the G8 outreach session and active participation in UN peacekeeping operations. He also praised China's efforts to promote world multi-polarization. China's peaceful and harmonious development is an important contribution to the world, he said. He also noted the Italian side spoke highly of the measures China has taken to tackle the global financial crisis and economic downturn and was glad to see the policies and measures that China has adopted to promote economic growth have taken effect. Napolitano noted that China's participation is a must for the international community in its move to tackle the crisis, reform the international financial system and realize sustainable development. Napolitano said Italy attached great importance to China-EU relations and would continue to play an active role in boosting the ties. The president also reiterated Italy's adherence to the one-China policy.

Hu said China and the European Union (EU), as two important forces in the world, have witnessed an increasing of their common interests and mutual needs at both bilateral and global levels. China-EU relations have forged a pattern of all-round, multi-level and broad cooperation featured by mutual benefit. As long as both sides are committed to viewing and handling their relations from a strategic height and a long-term perspective and stick to the principles of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit in enhancing dialogue and cooperation, China-EU relations will surely achieve comprehensive, in-depth and continuous development.

Hu also briefed his Italian counterpart on China's efforts to cope with the global financial crisis and maintain stable and relatively rapid economic growth.

Prior to the talks, Hu Jintao attended a grand welcoming ceremony hosted by Napolitano.

Following the talks, the two leaders jointly met the press.

Ling Jihua, Wang Huning and Dai Bingguo attended the above activities.