BEIJING, Jun 24 (NNN-XINHUA) – Chinese Premier, Li Qiang, held talks with Singaporean Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, who is on an official visit to China, in Beijing, yesterday.
Noting that China and Singapore are friendly neighbours and important partners, Li said that, under the strategic guidance of their leaders, the traditional friendship between China and Singapore has been continuously deepened since the establishment of diplomatic relations 35 years ago, with bilateral relations enhanced and practical cooperation achieving fruitful results.
He said that, China is willing to work with Singapore to uphold the traditions of mutual respect and trust, equality and mutual benefits, while maintaining close high-level exchange, enhancing strategic communication, and consolidating political mutual trust.
Li said, China stands ready to make full use of its bilateral cooperation mechanism with Singapore, implement their cooperation plan for the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, and expand and strengthen flagship cooperation projects. China is also ready to increase the scale of two-way trade and investment, actively expand cooperation in third-party markets, and foster new cooperative initiatives, in areas such as, the digital economy, the green economy, artificial intelligence, smart cities and ocean energy.
He called on the two countries to strengthen exchange in education, culture, tourism and media, and to adhere to open regionalism and true multilateralism, actively promote the liberalisation and facilitation of trade and investment, and maintain the stability and smooth operations of global industrial and supply chains.
Wong said, Singapore looks forward to maintaining close high-level exchange and cooperation in various fields with China, deepening friendship and mutual trust, and promoting flagship cooperation projects, such as, the Suzhou Industrial Park. It is also willing to explore cooperation potential in emerging fields, such as the digital economy, the green economy, artificial intelligence and biomedicine, and to expand third-party cooperation and enhance people-to-people and cultural exchange.
Wong noted that Singapore is full of confidence in the Chinese economy, and is willing to enhance communication and collaboration with China, on regional and multilateral platforms to safeguard free trade and the multilateral trading system.– NNN-XINHUA
