Yuan Jiajun (2nd from right), Party secretary of Zhejiang province, accompanies Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni (middle) to visit Jiaxing on March 16. They pose for a photo beside the Red Boat. [Photo/WeChat account: jxfabu]

Yuan Jiajun, Party secretary of East China's Zhejiang province, accompanied Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni on a visit to the prefecture-level city of Jiaxing in the province on March 16.

During the visit, Yuan, on behalf of the provincial Party committee, the provincial government and people of the province, extended his warm welcome to the Cambodian monarch.

He said that China and Cambodia enjoy an intimate friendship and that in recent years, the two countries have witnessed great progress in relationships and in cooperation.

As the birthplace of the Communist Party of China and a keen practitioner of China's reform and opening-up policies, Zhejiang is striving to become one of the first provinces in China to realize socialist modernization, Yuan noted.

He expressed the hope that the Cambodian royal would learn more about Zhejiang from the visit and promote exchanges and cooperation between the province and Cambodia in various fields, especially trade, culture, health and tourism.

King Norodom Sihamoni said that he was very delighted to visit Zhejiang again and he was also impressed by the province's rapid economic and social development.

He added that he hoped the visit would contribute to the traditional friendship between the two countries and promote their further exchanges and cooperation, improving the well-being of their peoples.

During his stay in Jiaxing, the Cambodian monarch visited the Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall, the Red Boat where the first CPC National Congress was convened in 1921, and ancient Wuzhen town, the permanent site of the annual World Internet Conference.