Present at the banquet on invitation were Wen Jiabao, Yang Jiechi, minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Jiarui, head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, Zhang Ping, minister in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission, Chen Deming, minister of Commerce, Cai Wu, minister of Culture, Xie Fuzhan, director of the Research Office of the State Council, Liu Xiaoming, Chinese ambassador to the DPRK, Qiu Xiaoxiong, vice secretary-general of the State Council and director of the Premier's Office, Wu Dawei, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Liu Zhenqi, deputy director of the General Political Department of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and other suite members and staff members of the Chinese embassy here.

Present there were Kim Yong Il, premier of the Cabinet, Choe Thae Bok, secretary of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, Ro Tu Chol, vice-premier of the Cabinet and chairman of the State Planning Commission, Pak Ui Chun, minister of Foreign Affairs, Kang Nung Su, minister of Culture, Choe Chang Sik, minister of Public Health who is chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK-China Friendship Association, Kim Yong Ho, chief secretary of the Cabinet Secretariat, Pak Kyong Son, vice department director of the WPK Central Committee, Kim Yong Il, vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, Ku Pon Thae, vice-minister of Foreign Trade, Choe Jin Su, DPRK ambassador to China, and officials concerned.

Toasts were exchanged at the banquet.

Kim Yong Il said Premier Wen Jiabao and his party are paying a visit to the DPRK on the important occasion of reviewing the 60 year-long history of the DPRK-China friendship and carving out a future.

He stressed that the DPRK-China friendship deeply rooted in the hearts of the peoples of the two countries would be invariable despite the flow of time.

Wen Jiabao said:

The Sino-DPRK relations of friendship and cooperation have grown stronger in recent years, recalling that the Sino-DPRK friendship is a common precious treasure provided by revolutionaries of the elder generation of the two countries.

The two countries have demonstrated before the world the Sino-DPRK relations favorably developing as the days go by through the colorful celebrations of the "year of the Sino-DPRK friendship", the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the bilateral diplomatic ties.

It is the consistent policy of the Chinese party and government to set store by the traditional Sino-DPRK friendship and steadily boost the bilateral relations of good neighborliness, friendship and cooperation, he noted, declaring that China would strive together with Korean comrades to steadily deepen and develop the exchange and cooperation in all fields in the spirit of "inheriting the tradition, facing up to the future, building good-neighborly friendship and strengthening cooperation".