President Xi Jinping meets with leaders of eight nations, and discusses advancing ties and exploring new realms of cooperation in a wide range of fields

President Xi Jinping holds talks with Chilean President Gabriel Boric at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, Oct 17, 2023. Gabriel Boric is in Beijing to attend the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and pay a state visit to China. [Photo/Xinhua]

CHILE

President Xi Jinping stressed on Tuesday the need for China and Chile to better align their development strategies, promote high-quality building of the Belt and Road, and foster new growth engines for bilateral cooperation in clean energy, the digital economy and sci-tech innovation.

In talks with Chilean President Gabriel Boric, Xi called for both sides to firmly support each other in pursuing development paths that suit their national conditions and safeguard each other's core interests and major concerns.

Beijing stands ready to enhance exchanges with Santiago in national governance experience and share its successful practices in poverty alleviation, green transitioning and environmental protection, Xi said.

China welcomes more high-quality agricultural produce and specialty products from Chile into the Chinese market, he said, adding that the nation will encourage more companies to take part in the construction of major projects in Chile.

He also expressed readiness to promote Chinese language teaching and learning, bolster bilateral cooperation at the local level, facilitate people-to-people exchanges, strengthen public support for bilateral ties and promote mutual learning between civilizations.

Xi underscored China's strong emphasis regarding its ties with Latin America, saying that Beijing appreciates Santiago's positive contributions to the development of China-Latin America relations and the construction of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum.

Boric said he hopes his visit will be an opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation in areas such as environmental protection, poverty reduction, energy, technology and mining.

Chile supports China's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, he said, adding that his country hopes to become a hub for China's cooperation with Latin American countries and play an active role in promoting China-Latin America relations.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation agreements covering the Belt and Road Initiative, development cooperation, industrial investment, the digital economy, technological innovation, customs inspection and quarantine, agriculture, the Antarctic, and cooperation with small and medium-sized enterprises.

XU WEI