On Wednesday, Wang Chen, the vice-chairman of China’s top legislature, met with former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi on the sidelines of the Taihu World Cultural Forum in Beijing.

Wang is a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the vice-chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

Prodi is also the honorary president of the forum.

The fifth conference of the Taihu World Cultural Forum, a Chinese NGO that promotes Chinese culture and serves as a platform for international nongovernment exchanges, is held October 17 to 19 in the capital.