Visit of the Honourable Dan Hays, Speaker of the Senate, and a Parliamentary Delegation, People's Republic of China
From June 5 to 12, 2005, the Honourable Dan Hays, Speaker of the Senate, led a parliamentary delegation to China comprised of the Honourable Lowell Murray, P.C., the Honourable Pat Carney, P.C., the Honourable Marie-P. Poulin, and the Honourable Mac Harb, Senators in reply to an official invitation from Mr. Wu Bangguo, Chair of the National People’s Congress.
In China, Speaker Hays and the delegation held official meetings with:
- Mr. Wu Bangguo, Chair of the National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China;
- Mr. Jiang Zhenghua, Vice-Chair of the National People’s Congress;
- Mr. Ma Kai, Chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission;
- Mr. Li Zhxoxing, Minister of Foreign Affairs;
- Mr. Du Quinglin, Minister of Agriculture;
- Mr. Jia Qinglin, Chair of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress;
- Mr. Gong Xueping, Chairman of the Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress (SMPC); and
- Mr. Han Zheng, Mayor of Shanghai.
The delegation also traveled to Xi’an and Shanghai, where they visited the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, Emperor Qin’s Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, Xi’an National Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone, Song Jiang University Town, the China Executive Leadership Academy (Pudong), the Oriental Pearl Tower, Yu Garden, the Shanghai Urban Planning Museum, as well as the Shanghai Museum.
During their visit, the Canadian delegation sought to encourage ongoing parliamentary dialogue and friendship between Canada and China and in all fields of contact; to explore environmental and energy-related issues within the context multilateral cooperation, and to share Canadian objectives on this front; to discuss the “4th generation” of governance, notably in terms of macroeconomic and political reform; and to promote an open forum for the discussion of international agricultural issues in a global context.