Present there on invitation were Abulaiti Abudurexiti, vice-chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; Zhang Zhijun, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs; He Jun, assistant to the head of the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; Wu Donghe, chairman of the China-Korea Friendship Association; and other officials concerned of China.

Ambassador Choe Pyong Gwan and staff members of the DPRK embassy in Beijing were present.

Speeches were made there.

Choe noted in his speech that President Kim Il Sung together with Premier Zhou Enlai signed the above-said treaty, thus providing a firm foundation for developing the DPRK-China friendship on a new high level. He recalled that the peoples of the two countries have firmly supported and closely cooperated with each other in different fields in the spirit of the treaty over the last 49 years.

The DPRK-China friendship, the precious legacy and common asset of the two peoples which were provided and bequeathed by the leaders of the elder generation of the two countries, has continued to develop favorably under the deep care of the top leaders of the two countries, he said, expressing the belief that the traditional friendly and cooperative relations would continue to grow strong in different fields in conformity with the intentions of the top leaders of the two countries.

The vice-chairperson of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference said that the Sino-DPRK relations have steadily developed under the care of the top leaders of the two countries in recent years, recalling that General Secretary Kim Jong Il visited China in last May, achieving important common understandings of many issues with party and state leaders of China including General Secretary Hu Jintao and placing the Sino-DPRK friendly and cooperative relations on a new higher stage.

I as a comrade and friend am sincerely rejoiced over the fresh successes made by the Korean comrades in their efforts for economic development and improvement of the standard of people's living in recent years, he noted, wholeheartedly hoping that the Korean people would continue to register greater successes in all fields of nation-building under the leadership of the Worker's Party of Korea headed by General Secretary Kim Jong Il.