Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ａｃｏｓｔａ ｏｆ Ｃｏｌｏｍｂｉａｎ Ｃｈａｍｂｅｒ ｏｆ Ｒｅｐｒｅｓｅｎｔａｔｉｖｅｓ Ｌｅａｄｓ Ｄｅｌｅｇａｔｉｏｎ ｔｏ Ｃｈｉｎａ

He did not choose spring when it is warm and flowers are blooming. Nor did he choose a sunny day. Alonso Acosta Osio， president of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia led a delegation on a 10-day goodwill visit to China， arriving in the country on a cold winter day with strong northerly wind. However， whether in terms of strengthening Sino-Colombian official ties or in terms of promoting people-to-people exchanges， Acosta’s first trip to China could be called a “sunny trip”.

The first phase of President Acosta’s visit was to attend the annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Parliamentary Forum (APPF) held in Beijing from January 12 to 14， 2004. Then， he and his party visited Beijing， Xi’an， Guilin and Shanghai at the invitation of the CPAFFC. As one of the heads of the participating delegations to the APPF annual meeting， Acosta was present at the meetings or banquets with President Hu Jintao， NPC Standing Committee Chairman Wu Bangguo and NPC Standing Committee Vice Chairman Li Tieying and as guests of the CPAFFC， he and his party met with Cheng Siwei， vice chairman of the NPC Standing Committee and president of the China-Latin America Friendship Association， Ai Pishan， chairman of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference， Gong Xueping， chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress， Li Xiaolin， CPAFFC vice president， Lu Guozeng， assistant foreign minister and Lei Xiping， chairman of the Guilin City People’s Congress， and attended the banquets held in various localities to welcome them. Acosta and his party also visited Shanghai Pudong New Area and the Alcatel Shanghai Bell， took the maglev train and gave interviews to reporters. The entrepreneurs and dancers that came with the delegation held talks on cooperation with relevant personages from the Beijing Sunpu Electrical Appliances Corporation， the Shanghai Tengen Group Co. Ltd.， and the Department of Cultural Exchanges of the CPAFFC respectively.

Actively Promoting All-round Development of Colombia-China Relations

Vice Chairman Cheng Siwei， when meeting with the delegation， spoke highly of the sound bilateral relations and briefed the guests on the functions of the NPC and China’s strategy of going global. He said: “Although the social systems， language， culture and customs of China and Colombia are different， the two countries share a wide range of common interests. China regards South America as an important base for its going global strategy and hopes that President Acosta’s visit will further the exchanges in the political， cultural and economic fields between the two countries.” Acosta told the Vice Chairman that he did not have much knowledge about China before the visit and that the visit enabled him to see a vigorously developing and ever changing China. He said that he would be “a faithful information deliverer and let the people of his country know the real situation in China”. He said， situated in northern South America， Colombia is at a strategic point connecting South and North America and linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has rich natural resources and 40 % of the total animal and plant varieties in the world. But due to war and debt problems， there is a severe shortage of investment in social and capital construction of Colombia. Acosta hoped that Chinese enterprises would invest more in the areas of capital construction， energy and communication and expressed Colombia’s willingness to become the gateway of China to enter the South American market， for which he suggested that the two countries work out a common agenda to strengthen cooperation and coordination in the political， economic， cultural and other fields.

Learning from China’s Experience

It was their first visit to China for all the members of the delegation， except former Education Minister Mrs. Olga Duque de Ospina and her daughther. The majestic Palace Museum， the grandiose Great Wall， the beautiful Guilin landscape， the ancient city wall of Xi’an， the skyscrapers of Shanghai Lujiazui Financial and Trade District， the elegant gardens in southern China and the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre that houses the past， the present and the future plans of Shanghai all left deep impressions on them and made them reluctant to leave. President Acosta said， the visit has enabled him to see with his own eyes the tremendous achievements China had scored in reform and opening up and its socialist economic development. The attention China pays to the coordinated social and economic development and the environmental protection in the process of development， and the emphasis it places on giving first importance to human beings impressed them especially. He told us that Colombia would learn from and borrow the experience of China’s success in economic development and urban construction. He said: “After I visited China I know now why Chinese paintings are always so beautiful.” He wrote on the visitor’s book: “The visit has enabled me to experience the miraculous speed of China’s development. As China’s brothers， we sincerely wish China to be more prosperous.” Mrs. Duque said， revisiting China after 10 years， she saw great changes taken place in the country. Remarkable progress has been made in areas such as urban greening， construction of highways and housing for the urban dwellers. Farid Eduardo Radi， member of the delegation said that the speed of China’s municipal construction was so fast that it surprised the world and won admiration， and that it set an example of high-speed development for developing countries. The members of the delegation all expressed that they would tell the Colombian people what they saw and heard in China upon their return so that more and more people would know about and understand China.