Chinese, Chilean presidents hold talks

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping and his Chilean counterpart Sebastian Pinera held talks in Beijing on Wednesday ahead of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

China and Chile should take joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative as a new opportunity to deepen political mutual trust and pragmatic cooperation, and push the China-Chile comprehensive strategic partnership to a new level, Xi said.

Xi said the two countries should promote the upgrading of bilateral trade and investment, and strengthen cooperation in areas such as mining, clean energy, telecommunication, e-commerce, technological innovation and Antarctic science.

Efforts should be made to better hold a series of celebrations next year that will mark the 50th anniversary of China-Chile diplomatic relations, and boost people-to-people ties, he said.

China supports Chile in hosting the UN climate change summit and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting this year, and will work with Chile to push forward the construction of the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific and uphold multilateralism as well as the multilateral trading system, said Xi.

The nature of cooperation between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries is South-South cooperation, and the two sides should continue to support and help each other, complement each other with respective strengths, pursue win-win cooperation, so as to achieve common development and rejuvenation, and jointly forge a community with a shared future between China and Latin America, he said.

Pinera said Chile and China had achieved marked progress in bilateral relationship since the two countries established diplomatic ties.

Chile supports joint pursuit of the Belt and Road Initiative to enhance connectivity among regions, Pinera said.

Chile hopes to learn from China's achievements in innovation-driven development and green development, and expand bilateral cooperation in such areas, he said.

Pinera also noted that Chile would enhance coordination and cooperation with China on regional and multilateral affairs, and continue to play an exemplary role in promoting relations between Latin America and China.

After the talks, the two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents.