Li calls Sino-Mongolia ties 'best ever'

A Mongolian girl presents flowers to visiting Chinese Premier Li Keqiang in Ulaanbaatar on July 14, 2016. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Guards of honor dressed in traditional costumes and two dozens of cavalry troops were part of a ceremony Mongolia's new Prime Minister Jargaltulga Erdenebat held at the Chinggis Khaan Square to welcome his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang in capital Ulaanbaatar on Thursday morning.

Li, who arrived on Wednesday, is the first high foreign government leader to meet the 42-year-old, who was appointed prime minister of Mongolia on Friday.

Speaking at a joint news conference after their meeting, Premier Li lauded the China-Mongolia relations as being the "best ever" in history.

Li said he and Erdenebat agreed to speed up the strategic synergy between China's Belt and Road Initiative and Mongolia's Steppe Road Program, and to accelerate cooperation in key areas.

These key areas include meat processing and residential house construction, which will bring tangible benefits to Mongolian people and help transfer production capacity from China.

Erdenebat said Li's visit is the first one by a premier since the two countries upgraded bilateral ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership -- the highest rank in Mongolia's diplomatic relations -- in 2014.

"We have agreed to keep up the momentum of the high-level exchanges, and ramp up economic cooperation," Erdenebat said through an interpreter.

"Our cooperative priorities include economy, trade, infrastructure, energy, finance and agriculture," he said, adding that both sides have reached important consensus, as witnessed by the signing of a dozen of agreements Thursday morning.