CRI听力:China, UK Launch High Level People-to-People Dialogue

The two countries originally agreed to set up the new mechanism during Premier Wen Jiabao's UK visit last year, with ministerial meetings to be held every year, alternating between China and Britain.

Chinese State Councilor Liu Yandong has now signed off on the agreement.

"This year marks the 40th anniversary of full Sino-British diplomatic ties. Over the past four decades, the international situation has gone through profound changes while the Sino-British relations have overcome difficulties to move forward. Our bilateral ties are now at a new starting point. It's very significant that Secretary Hunt and I put into effect this high level people-to-people dialogue agreed last June."

British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

"This is primarily about building trust between the peoples of Britain and China. It's a kind of trust we hope that can underpin all the different dialogues between our two countries. This people-to-people dialogue I think can also have very positive economic impact. China market is a very important one for UK's creative and digital industries. We know that in your 12th Five Year Plan, you wish to raise centage of your GDP from 2.5 percent to 5 percent represented by the creative industries. Here in the UK, it's already 7 percent. We're very happy to collaborate with you in a way that can help both economies."

The two sides have also signed a slew of new MOUs to try to reinforce cooperation between universities, research institutes, and museums.

For CRI, I'm TU Yun reporting from London.