China, Austria pledge to heighten economic relations

Vienna yesterday reiterated its desire to build closer economic ties with Beijing, as it believes China's development has provided greater room for expanding bilateral trade cooperation since the on-set of the global economic crisis.

Though the whole world was affected by the economic crisis in various degrees, the China-Austria trade volume saw a stable increase last year, said visiting Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Fischer said he is happy with Austria-China relations and expressed optimism about future developments during a meeting in the Great Hall of the People with President Hu Jintao yesterday.