NEW YORK, Sept. 24 -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday expressed hope that Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation will play a role in the continued deepening of exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States for more practical results.

Li made the remarks in his meeting with Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, on the sidelines of the general debate of the 80th session of the UN General Assembly.

Li expressed his appreciation for Gates and the foundation for their long-term commitment to global poverty reduction, health service, development and philanthropy.

Noting that in recent years, China has made tremendous achievements in health care and established the world's largest disease control and medical service system, Li said China has also actively participated in global development cooperation.

China is ready to expand cooperation with the foundation by carrying out more cooperative projects across the entire health chain globally and actively engaging in trilateral and multilateral cooperation with developing countries to better benefit people and make greater contributions to global development, said the Chinese premier.

Li expressed his hope that the foundation will continue to strengthen cooperation with relevant Chinese departments and local partners, leverage platforms such as the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute in Beijing and the Shanghai Center of Excellence for Global Health and Development, to implement cooperative projects.

The sound and stable development of China-U.S. relations benefits not only the two countries but the world at large, Li noted.

With mounting global challenges, he urged both countries to maintain close cooperation, strengthen and improve global governance, and jointly promote global stability, development and prosperity.

For his part, Gates said that China's achievements in areas such as scientific and technological innovation, artificial intelligence, medical and health care, as well as poverty reduction in recent years have drawn worldwide attention.

He said the foundation looks forward to further strengthening its relations with China and conducting more substantive cooperation in the field of global health, and especially in developing countries, so as to jointly advance the cause of global development.

Calling the U.S.-China ties one of the most important bilateral relations in the world today, Gates pledged that both he and the foundation will make active efforts to promote closer communication and cooperation between the two countries and jointly address global challenges.