On July 7, 2009, Chinese President Hu Jintao met with President of the Regional Government of Veneto Giancarlo Galan in Venice.

Hu said that Venice holds an important position in the history of exchanges between China and the western part of the world. Marco Polo initiated the east-west contacts. Local exchanges and cooperation constitute a major part of the bilateral relations. Venice, capital of the Veneto region, forged a sister city relationship with Suzhou, Jiangsu province as early as in 1980, and the Veneto region and Jiangsu province established the sister province relationship in 1998. The Veneto region is one of the most industrialized economic zones in Europe, where many enterprises boast unique products, technologies and management know-how. The bilateral cooperation enjoys a promising future and great potential. He expressed hope that the Veneto government would continue to promote and support the cooperation between the Italian and the Chinese enterprises. Venice is a well-known tourism destination. The two sides should strengthen cooperation on tourism and culture, enhance the mutual understanding and friendship between their people and push forward the pragmatic cooperation. The Chinese government will, as always, support the Chinese provinces and cities in expanding the friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation with the Veneto region.

Galan, on behalf of the people of the entire Veneto region, extended warm welcome to President Hu. He said that Venice has a long history of friendly exchanges with China. The Italian side expects to follow the historical track and further step up the friendly exchanges with China, continue to advance the bilateral cooperation and enhance the bilateral friendship. As China develops rapidly, the Veneto region has forged closer economic ties with China. The bilateral trade has grown tremendously. In particular, the bilateral cooperation on tourism has continued expanding. The people of Venice are friend of the Chinese people for ever.

Dai Bingguo was also present at the meeting.