Vienna yesterday reiterated its desire to build closer economic ties with Beijing, as it believes China's development has provided greater room for expanding bilateral trade cooperation since the on-set of the global economic crisis.

Though the whole world was affected by the economic crisis in various degrees, the China-Austria trade volume saw a stable increase last year, said visiting Austrian President Heinz Fischer.

Fischer said he is happy with Austria-China relations and expressed optimism about future developments during a meeting in the Great Hall of the People with President Hu Jintao yesterday.