Chinese premier holds talks with New Zealand's PM

BEIJING, June 20 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang held talks with New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in Beijing on Friday.

Li emphasized that strengthening strategic communication and deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between China and New Zealand are of great significance in light of all the changes and turbulence in today's world.

President Xi Jinping met with Prime Minister Luxon this morning, pointing out the direction for the development of bilateral relations in the next stage, Li said, noting that China is willing to work with New Zealand to carry forward traditional friendship, consolidate political mutual trust, and expand practical cooperation, to promote common development and deliver greater benefits to both peoples.

Highlighting high complementarity between the two economies, the premier proposed aligning development strategies to explore more converging interests, upgrading cooperation quality in all fields for higher-level win-win outcomes.

He called on the two sides to further expand the scale of trade, continuously promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, expand cooperation in emerging fields and better promote regional economic integration.

China stands ready to import more quality agricultural and food products from New Zealand, and will continue to encourage capable Chinese enterprises to invest in New Zealand, and hopes that New Zealand will provide a fair and open business environment for Chinese enterprises operating in the country, Li said.

China welcomes New Zealand as the guest country of honor at the China Annual Conference & Expo for International Education 2025 and is willing to deepen exchanges with New Zealand in education, tourism, think tanks, and subnational cooperation, to enhance mutual understanding and amity between the two peoples.

At present, the global economic and trade landscape is undergoing profound transformation and adjustment, Li said, adding that China is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with New Zealand within frameworks such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, safeguard the rules-based multilateral trading system, create an open, inclusive and non-discriminatory international economic cooperation environment, and inject more stability and certainty into the turbulent world.

Luxon reaffirmed New Zealand's adherence to the one-China policy, expressing willingness to maintain high-level exchanges with China, strengthen mutual understanding and trust, and deepen exchange and cooperation in the fields of trade, agriculture, tourism, and education.

New Zealand is also willing to enhance communication and coordination with China in such areas as response to climate change and green development, jointly committing to upholding the international order and promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, Luxon said.

After the talks, Li and Luxon jointly witnessed the signing of multiple cooperation documents covering customs, food safety, organic product certification, climate change, and cultural heritage. ■