Hu emphasized the "growing strategic importance" of the relationship and said there was "still huge potential" for it to grow.

"China wishes to join Canada in a concerted effort to treat and develop our relations from a strategic and long-term perspective, strengthen our friendly exchanges, expand win-win cooperation and further advance our strategic partnership from a new starting point," Hu said.

"There is a need and also a possibility for Canada and China to further scale up cooperation," he said.

China is already Canada's second largest trading partner, behind the United States, with two-way trade topping 50.9 billion Canadian dollars (48.8 billion US) last year.

Even so, Canada trails most other Western nations in trade with China, and Ottawa would like to catch up.

Hu called for bilateral trade to surpass 60 billion dollars (US) by 2015. For its part, China has been eyeing Canadian oil and gas, which currently flows primarily to the United States, and other vast resources.

Details of a dozen business deals with Canadian firms signed by Chinese executives traveling with Hu were not disclosed.

China agreed to open its market to Canadian beef in stages -- making Canada the first mad cow or BSE-affected nation to regain access.

Two giant pandas may also soon be on their way to Canada on loan from Beijing, said a statement.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said the relationship "has become one of Canada's most important international relationships."

But it has been strained in recent years over Harper's human rights criticisms of China and his official meeting in 2007 with the Dalai Lama, as well as frequent accusations of Chinese espionage.

China claims the Tibetan spiritual leader is a dangerous figure agitating for Tibetan independence.

Beijing also denied it has ever spied on Canada.

But even this week, Canada's spy chief told public broadcaster CBC that municipal officials and cabinet ministers from two Canadian provinces were under the control of foreign governments, including Beijing.

Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Richard Fadden warned that some officials had "developed quite an attachment to foreign countries."

"There are several municipal politicians in British Columbia and in at least two provinces there are ministers of the Crown who we think are under at least the general influence of a foreign government," he said.

"The individual becomes in a position to make decisions that affect the country or the province or a municipality," he said. "All of a sudden, decisions aren't taken on the basis of the public good but on the basis of another country's preoccupations."

A press conference where Hu and Harper were expected to be asked about the accusation was cancelled and replaced by a photo-op, where both leaders made a few comments but took no questions.

The Chinese leader had arrived here on Wednesday just hours after a 5.0-magnitude earthquake rattled Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. The temblor prompted evacuations of many downtown office buildings, shattered windows at Ottawa city hall and reportedly damaged stretches of road north of the capital.

Hu was accompanied by four deputy premiers and five ministers, described by Canada's Governor General Michaelle Jean as "one of the highest-level delegations ever to come to Canada."

On Thursday, Hu awoke to a ruckus outside his hotel as hundreds of rights activists protested for religious freedoms in China. But they were soon outnumbered by pro-Beijing supporters.

On Saturday and Sunday Hu attends the Group of 20 summit of top industrial and emerging economies, where he is expected to address two major issues of international interest: China's policy shift on its currency, which many nations believe is undervalued, and Beijing's stance on North Korea.

A senior US official said Wednesday that President Barack Obama will hold talks with key Asian leaders, including Hu, on the sidelines of the summit.

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