On the morning of December 8, Li Xiuling, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, met with Greg Piper, Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly of Australia.

Li noted that, under the strategic guidance of the leaders of both countries, China-Australia relations have continued to improve. Beijing serves as China’s political center, cultural center, center for international exchanges, and center for technological innovation. It is also a vibrant international metropolis where history meets modernity. Since the establishment of the sister-city relationship, Beijing and New South Wales have carried out friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation across a wide range of areas, including economy and trade, science and technology, and education, achieving fruitful results and playing a leading and exemplary role in subnational exchanges between the two countries. The Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress stands ready to work with the New South Wales Legislative Assembly to implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of both countries, further strengthen exchanges between local legislative bodies, enhance mutual understanding, thus makingcontributions to the development of China-Australia relations.

Piper stated that Australia and China enjoy strong economic complementarity and broad prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation. For many years, New South Wales has maintained close exchanges with Beijing in areas including economy and trade as well as people-to-people and cultural ties. New South Wales stands ready to continue advancing cooperation and exchanges in fields such as science and technology, healthcare, and local legislation, so as to enhancepeople-to-people interactions and further boost the friendly relations between the two countries.

Scott Dewar, Australian Ambassador to China, and Wang Jianzhong, Secretary General of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, also attended the meeting.