China ready to deepen cooperation with Maldives, foreign minister says

Foreign Minister Wang Yi called for enhanced mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the Maldives as he held talks on Monday with his Maldivian counterpart Moosa Zameer in Beijing.

Wang briefed Zameer about the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, saying China has put forward more than 300 key reform measures, sending a clear message of further expanding high-level opening up.

It's believed that China would provide new cooperation opportunities for the countries across the globe, including the Maldives, Wang said.

China stands ready to further deepen practical cooperation with the Maldives in areas such as investment and green development, as well as expand people-to-people exchanges in tourism and education, he said.

Wang pledged China's continuous support within its capacity to the island nation to help it strengthen independent and sustainable development.

China would also enhance multilateral coordination with the Maldives in areas such as climate change to jointly respond to global challenges and safeguard true multilateralism, he added.

Zameer expressed the belief that efforts made by China to comprehensively deepen reform to advance its modernization will deliver more benefits to the world and is essential for countries, especially developing countries, to jointly tackle global challenges and safeguard world peace and prosperity.

He thanked China for providing great help to the social and economic development of his country in a long run and said the Maldives would continue to actively participate in the joint building of the Belt and Road cooperation.

While expressing his high appreciation for the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative and the Global Civilization Initiative, he said the Maldives would carry out close communication and consultation with China in international affairs.