China values its good relations with New Zealand and is willing to pursue stronger ties with Wellington on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said on Friday.

During a meeting with his New Zealand counterpart Phil Goff, Li said China would work together with New Zealand to advance the early resumption of multilateral trade talks of the Doha Round within the framework of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The meeting between the two foreign ministers took place on the sidelines of the 15th ministerial meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.

Li noted that China and New Zealand, endeavoring to establish full-range cooperative relations characterized by long-term stability, have witnessed frequent exchanges of high-level visits and wide-ranging cooperation in agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry, geophysics, environment, meteorology, education and tourism.

He expressed confidence that the upcoming state visit of Chinese President Hu Jintao to New Zealand would achieve positive results with the efforts from both sides.

Goff, for his part, said that the government and people of New Zealand is eagerly awaiting President Hu's visit and that they are making further preparations to make the visit successful.

The economies of China and New Zealand are highly complementary and there is great potential for economic and trade cooperation, said Goff, expressing the hope that the two sides would explore new areas of cooperation and work towards stronger and closer cooperation and exchanges.

China is now New Zealand's fourth largest trading partner.

Goff congratulated China on the success of its first manned space flight.

The two sides also discussed the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula and other issues of common concerns.

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