Foreign and Military Affairs

Chinese vice president meets Belgium's deputy PM

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-04-07 09:55

BEIJING - Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping met here Tuesday with Belgium's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Steven Vanackere, pledging closer ties.

China and Belgium have conducted productive cooperation in various fields in the past years and the bilateral relationship was expected to continue to strengthen, said Xi.

"China is willing to work with Belgium to consolidate political trust, deepen pragmatic cooperation and strengthen coordination in multilateral affairs in the spirit of mutual respect and equality," Xi said.

He said China would maintain its reform and opening-up policy, follow the path of peaceful development and work with the international community to tackle challenges and achieve win-win outcomes.

Vanackere told Xi that Belgium would work to further develop Belgium-China and EU-China relations. His country would hold the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) later this year.

Vanackere is making an official visit to China from April 5 to 7 at the invitation of Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi. He held talks with Yang earlier Tuesday.